Chapter 1: Outset

Relos stared at his opponent from across the room. The area was bursting with elemental energy of all types, the perfect place for a magical duel such as this one. He considered for a moment the fact that the man he now stared at was his best friend. Banishing the traitorous thought immediately, Relos began to gather the elements for his first strike. Friend or not, he would not back down.

The elements were now gathered, the time to strike was at hand. Relos brought the glowing spheres of brown and blue together, molding them into a power that would rob his enemy Danas of the capacity to attack. With the magic now fully formed, Relos glared at the one before him, and unleashed the spell. Pulsating brown and blue rays spiraled toward his opponent...only to be quickly sidestepped as they grew close. The spell flew past Danas, and dissolved into nothingness as it collided with a wall.

A wide grin grew upon Relos' face. This battle would not end as quickly as the last one. Perhaps this time the battle would be one of equals. Relos watched his opponent carefully, waiting for the retaliatory strike which he could see was now formed. The ball of energy his opponent wielded flew toward the ground nearby and disappeared. To some, it would appear that the spell had been poorly aimed, yet Relos knew better. He ran from the area near where the spell had landed while gathering the elements for his next spell.

Just as his chosen elements materialized into the familiar spheres of energy, the ground behind him erupted into a pillar of molten lava. Relos finished his spell, and released it toward his opponent as the lava faded away. The energy elongated into a spear darker than pitch as it raced toward Danas. Danas, not expecting a strike so soon, again tried to sidestep the spell, but was too slow this time. The Void Lance spell bit deeply into his arm before dissolving. Blood now flowed freely where before there was none, so Danas began to draw the element of water to himself for a healing spell.

As he observed his adversary's behavior, Relos knew that the time had come to finish off Danas. Relos quickly drew to himself the elements of earth and water, and again readied the spell of Magic Break. As waves of healing energy swept over Danas, restoring the damage done by the Void Lance spell, he saw a blur of brown and blue out of the corner of his eye. As Danas turned so as to face his opponent, a look of absolute horror crept across his face.

The elemental energies spiraling toward Danas were much too close to dodge, and so he braced himself for the expected impact. As the rays came into contact with his skin, Danas jerked suddenly, obviously in pain due to the part of his mind that allowed him to use magic being blocked off. A look of utter helplessness appeared on Danas' face as the backlash of the spell hit him. Finally, Danas sunk to the ground in utter defeat, for he had failed to defeat Relos in single combat. Relos prepared one final spell to end this all, drawing the appropriate energies to himself, and focusing them into an attack. A ball of energy shot toward the ground near Danas' feet, causing the earth to erupt in the infernal flames of darkness. As the blaze seared his skin, Danas enacted the ritual that would end it all.

"I yield," he shouted over the roar of the flames.

Immediately, it was over. The flames disappeared, and a soothing light shone about Danas, healing both his injured flesh and his injured mind. Relos walked toward Danas with a wide smile on his face and the hand of friendship extended.

"You did well, Danas. That's the first time you've managed to survive for more than two volleys of spells," Relos told him, "You've really improved over the last few weeks. We should really do this more often."

"Hmm...so we should," Danas replied, "I guess the art of combat magic really isn't that bad. Maybe I should request a transfer."

"What? And lose your position as the most overprotective keeper of the Archives the academy's had in ages?"

"Well, maybe not. After all, not all of us are cut out to be bloodthirsty instructors," Danas replied in retort.

"Bloodthirsty? I'll have you know that no vampiric blood has been introduced into my family in at least three generations," Relos said with a slight grin.

"I always knew that there was something wrong with your family. Anyway, I'll see you soon."

"Yeah, I'll see you later on."

Relos left the sparring room through the side entrance. He had absolutely no desire to run into any of his students in the main hallways, especially so soon after administering one of his more unique exams. He walked briskly through the side hallways, not even caring to investigate the slight trail of smoke that was floating away from the undergraduate laboratory. At last, he came upon the glorious main hallway, and promptly disappeared into the night.

* * *

Dynalis, the metropolis of Nocra, was always a grand sight. From the level of the street, it appeared that the towering buildings simply merged with the ceiling of the cave they were built in. The simple, yet powerful architecture, captured the very essence of the underground culture. The buildings conveyed both the image of unimaginable power and exquisite stealth in the perfect smoothness of the slightly rounded walls. There were no corners to be seen, for that would simply serve to make the building stand out.

On the street, magical lamps lit the area so as to allow the citizens of this land to move about without stumbling. These lamps were not nearly as intense as a Nova Blast spell, but rather gave off just enough light to live by. They illuminated the entire street, from the sides of the buildings to the center of the road. No litter could be seen, for anything that was left on the ground was burnt to ash by the cleanup crews.

The entire effect of this underground city never ceased to amaze Relos. It was true that he had never seen Lura, the aboveground world, but this incredible city was certainly a far cry from the small village where he had grown up. Here, any that wished to look could find culture and activities of all sorts. There were vast libraries filled with tomes to be read. There were boisterous nightclubs that were nearly always filled with patrons. Truly, this was a city that never slept and never lost its wonder.

Relos considered all of this and more as he strode down the streets, working his way toward the building where he lived. He remembered how he first came to this place as a gifted student from a backwater village, and how the images of that day were burned onto his mind, never to be erased. He remembered how he had risen so quickly above his peers, gaining in power and skill daily, until only he was considered worthy to take up the honorable mantle of instructor of magic.

Suddenly, Relos felt the sharp point of a blade of some sort being pressed into his back. He sighed, frustrated that such an insignificant being would dare try to rob him on a day such as this one. Relos vaguely heard some muffled words escape the mouth of his assailant, but they held no meaning to him as he prepared a retaliatory strike. The power he silently drew to himself was weak enough so as not to be noticed in the dim light let off by the street lamps, but just powerful enough to deal with the one behind him. The mugger pushed the point of the blade into Relos' back a little more. Just as he did this, though, Relos spun forward and sideways, so as now to be facing the mugger. He released the spell directly into the face of the would-be mugger, hearing curses of all sorts as the mugger fell to the ground. The bright flash generated by the Blind spell attracted just enough attention to cause someone to call out for a police officer.

Seeing that this task was done, Relos walked onward toward his apartment. If the police needed to contact him, they would doubtless know where to find him. After all, there were very few skilled mages in this city that preferred to rely on spells focusing on effects rather than destruction, and only one of them lived in this area of the city.

Finally, he reached his apartment building, a somewhat unobtrusive place in the middle of the northeastern quarter of the city. It looked about the same as most of the other buildings in the area, though with enough windows as to mark it as a residence area. Sighing, Relos climbed the stone stairs to the doorway, and faded away into the entranceway, very ready to call an end to this tiring day.

* * *

Relos found himself on a battlefield. Above him, a strange field of blue had replaced the cave ceiling. Amid this blue was a bright ball of light, more potent than any spell he had ever seen. Slowly, it dawned on Relos that what he was seeing matched the descriptions of Lura that he had read in ancient tomes. He looked around him. All about him, there were men wearing the traditional dark grey robes of the battle mages. Looking down, he found that he too was clad in such raiment. Continuing to look around, Relos saw a large group of men clad in the armor of foot soldiers, wielding all sorts of deadly instruments.

Then, he saw something incredibly terrifying: a small group of men and women clad in black clothes and wearing black mantles. Their faces were paler and their teeth longer than humanly possible. The most striking feature of them was their eyes, though. Their eyes were the color of blood. He knew of these accursed beings from the books of lore he had studied for many years. They were vampires. To his surprise, though, they seemed to be mingling with the other troops.

Finally, the one who obviously commanded this great army arrived. He appeared human, but wore black clothing and dark chain mail. A black medallion with the appearance of a black hole hung around his neck, seeming to absorb all light that came near it. This man wielded no weapon, but from the confident way he moved and the light armor he wore, he was obviously an extremely skilled mage. Finally, he spoke.

Relos could not hear what was said, for some reason, but at the conclusion of the speech, found himself cheering like those around him. A few moments later, everyone around him began to move forward. Not wanting to make waves, especially when he was obviously a soldier in this great army, Relos followed suit. Onward they marched, until they came upon a great army similar in appearance to the one he stood in, but with completely opposite in color. Instead of being clothed in the greys and blacks of an army for the Nation of the Dark, they were clad in white to the man. Relos found the sight repugnant.

A few taunts were thrown back and forth, and the battle began in earnest. Relos found his body moving by itself, casting powerful magic at the enemy. At the moment, no one seemed to be winning or even able to win. Looking toward the center of the battlefield, Relos saw a sight that took his breath away.

The commander of his army was engaged in a frightening duel with the commander of the other army. Neither seemed to be at all human. One appeared as a beacon of shining light, while the other looked to be a torch of pure night. A great duel of spells raged between them, and though Relos recognized the spells, they seemed entirely overpowered. Never had he seen a Void Lance spell that large, or a Nova Blast so bright. As the battle continued to rage, it all began to blend together, and then fade away.

Relos awoke. He got up out of bed, and proceeded to prepare for the day. As he looked in the mirror to shave, his gaze fell on the medallion around his neck, the heirloom he had received from his father before leaving for the city. It was exactly the same as the medallion from the dream, the medallion the Champion of Dark wore. The only difference was that it did not emanate any sort of power. Struck by this realization, Relos remembered the battle he had viewed in his dream. The overpowered spells that flew back and forth, the armies that clashed, and the champions that fought each other in an epic struggle of light versus dark. It almost seemed...real.

He looked up suddenly, regaining his bearing on reality. Relos forced these insane thoughts out of his head. After all, it was just a dream. He got ready for the day, dressing in the blue robes that indicated his station as a magic instructor. The day was yet young, and he had much to do today.

* * *

The day passed quickly, a blur of events that, while unimportant to Relos, were of the most dire need to hundreds of others. In other words, it was a fairly typical day of classes at Dynator, the academy of magic. On this fine day, there were the typical pranks being pulled by some of the more bored students, ranting by upset students regarding a certain exam from the day before, and a few students absent due to a magical experiment gone awry. A very typical day in the life of a magic instructor. After his last class of the day, Relos was beginning to pack up to go home, when he noticed a small, easily overlooked note on the desk of his office.

It read, 'Please come to the archives as soon as you can. Danas.'

Seeing as he really didn't have anything better to do, Relos began to walk down the hallways, toward the archives. There was the typical bustle of students hurrying to classes, and a few loiterers in the halls chatting. There was even a fairly inept student accidentally casting a fireball spell instead of the intended strength augmentation spell to make him move faster. Finally, Relos reached the archives.

The archives were a strange place. To the untrained eye, it seemed to look like a government storehouse of rare artifacts and books that had recently endured a tornado. In reality, it was a government storehouse of rare artifacts and books that had recently endured a slightly miscast wind spell, resulting in an out of control, yet localized, indoor hurricane.

'Really,' Relos thought to himself, 'Danas has got to get better control of the elements he doesn't specialize in. He must have asked me to come down here to help him clean up this mess.'

"Danas! You here anywhere?" Relos shouted, trying to locate his friend amid the chaotic mess of priceless treasures.

Just then, he heard a muffled shout from underneath a pile of artifacts near the desk. Relos walked over to where he heard the spell from, and carefully began to move somewhat intact artifacts worth more than his annual salary out of the way. As he neared the bottom of the pile, he saw what appeared to be a part of a somewhat bruised human face. Relos continued to move the invaluable assortment of treasures out of the way, until he had finally uncovered his good friend Danas. He helped Danas up, and was about to ask about what had happened, when Danas interrupted his train of thought by speaking first.

"You probably want to know what happened here. Before I can tell you, though, I need to know whether or not the Archmagus or the Council of the Magi have contacted you recently."

"Well, no..." Relos began to say.

"Alright, good. We don't have much time. Apparently, the Archmagus found out about a scroll describing a certain spell that the Keepers of the Archives have been trying to hide for the last few centuries or so. He sent a few trained monkeys over here that vaguely resembled goons to get it from me. I didn't give it to them, even after a little persuasion, so they decided to attempt a thorough search of the Archives with the help of a little wind spell. Anyway, I originally asked you to come down here for a spot of tea, but now I've got a favor to ask. I need you to move the scroll to somewhere safer."

"Well..." Relos began, "As much as I hate to cross the most powerful mage in Nocra, I guess I could do a favor for a friend. After all, it doesn't sound like too much work. One thing before I start, though. I want to know what this scroll is. After all, I can't think of a single spell that the Archmagus would want that he doesn't already know."

"Fine. As long as you'll take the scroll to a safer place, it should be safe to tell you what it is. Let me get it."

Upon saying this, Danas walked over to the wall behind his desk, and began to cast a spell composed of fire element and dark element. He focused the element onto a very specific part of the wall that appeared to be falling apart, and let loose what appeared to be a concentrated blaze of black and red. When the final effects from the magic cleared away, a small box of iron was revealed inside a hole in the wall. Danas took this box out, and proceeded to remove what appeared to be an extremely old spell scroll. He handed the scroll to Relos.

"This scroll," Danas began to say, "Describes how to cast the ultimate offensive spell. Right now, there is a magical seal upon it as a measure of protection, but even that won't stop the Archmagus. Thus, I need you to take this scroll to the secondary archives. To get there, you'll need to charge Mekel, the bridge between Nocra and Lura, that's in the small memorial to the south of the city. Because it hasn't been used since the war on the surface, you'll need to gather six crystalline structures, each imbued with one of the six elements. I know those are rare, but you should be able to find them eventually. Then, travel to the secondary archives using this token."

Saying that, Danas procured a small stone token from a medallion he wore under his robes, and handed it to Relos.

"So I guess I'll be going now?" Relos inquired of Danas

"Yes, you should. The sooner the better. They should discover that you have the scroll within a few days, so you need to move quickly and silently. Sorry to ruin your day like this, involving you in a highly complicated political situation between the office of the Archmagus and the office of the Keeper of the Archives."

"Well, I guess it shouldn't take too long. If you could, get someone to cover my classes for me while I'm gone. I've got a feeling this will take a week or so," Relos said.

"Certainly."

"Well then, I'm off!" Relos said with a slightly overdramatic flourish.

"Good luck and good travels, Relos," Danas called out to the retreating instructor.