Wizards of Light Volume 3

By Shanil Misra

Iridia was once a peaceful world, cohabited by Elves, Mermen and Dwarfs. Then Man arrived. The original inhabitants soon found that they could not coexist with Man and his many vices. The Elves fled to the forests, the Mermen the oceans and the Dwarfs the mountains. The magical creatures of Iridia, such as the unicorns and griffins, were hunted mercilessly. Dragons, annoyed by Man’s interference in their affairs, retreated to their vast network of caves to slumber. Man discovered magic, engaged in magical experimentation, and arcane magic was formalized. Guilds of wizards were formed and were in high demand in all four kingdoms. Experimentation resulted in hybrid races and black magic, and practitioners of the Dark Arts were banned from all formal guilds. Senior wizards were highly sought after as protectors and advisors to royalty and nobility. All ethical wizards aspired towards guild memberships of the opulent port of Halibar, or the ancient city of Mount Grande.

Two centuries ago, the first Wizard of Light was born, molded with Man’s attributes, but with a special affinity for the primal magical energy of Iridia. He called this cosmic energy the “Flow”, and found he was as attuned to the Flow as much as his other senses were attuned to his surroundings. Five other Wizards of Light were born since, each with primary powers aligned to his color of the Light. “The Six” became elite advisors to the royalty of Iridia. Then an ancient entity came to them in their dreams. It hungered for the Flow. It conveyed to them in their nightmares its primordial desire to devour the energies of the world itself. It needed to feed, and it needed them to prepare the world for its coming. The six split into factions of three. Red, Orange and Yellow chose the dark path and became pawns of their Master. Their leader, Rubeus of the Red, initiated the Great Purge. What followed were years of tyranny as the Elves, Dwarfs and other hybrid races were culled to the verge of extinction. The other faction of Blue, Indigo and Violet simply called the entity the “Evil”. This trio vowed to oppose the oppression of the Triad, before they split up.

When the seventh wizard of Light - Viridian or Vee for short - grew up under the guidance of Azurean, he joined Mauve, the Protector of Halibar. Together, the three wizards of Light prepared Halibar for war. Tyrian chose to stay out of the war for fear of Lissandra’s life, the last of the elves, who had been captured by Rubeus. The Triad eventually attacked at the battle of Halibar, but were thwarted by Vee who used his heightened power over the Flow to save Halibar.

Once the Evil arrived and had begun feeding upon the energies of the world, it was up to Mauve and the dragons to formulate a plan to defeat the Evil. To do so, they had to first oppose the Triad who had the help of the powerful dark wizard Limbar, and this was going to be no easy task. Dare they breach Mount Grande and lay siege upon an impregnable castle?

The question of survival was on everyone’s minds...
Had Vee survived Tyrian’s crazy attack and his fall from the cliffs?
Had Lissandra survived being captured by Rubeus again, after a failed attempt to rescue her?
Would Iridia survive the incessant and inexorable feeding by the Evil?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shanil Misra
• Release date: Sep 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9780639905488

Book preview

Wizards of Light

Volume 3: Survival

Shanil Misra

Copyright © Shanil Misra

Cover Art © Renaldo Goosen

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means without permission from the author.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

Smashwords First Edition

wizardsoflight.wikia.com

www.shanilmisra.com

ISBN 978-0-6399054-5-7

Table of Contents

1. Battle atop the World

2. Evil’s Fury

3. Vee Gets a Call

4. Dragon-talk

5. Guild Split

6. The Hunger

7. Borran’s Dilemma

8. Voyage to Mount Grande

9. He Who Dares

10. Trusting Malakor

11. The Darkness Spreads

12. Mobilization

13. Prelude to the March

14. The March

15. The Siege: Part 1

16. The Siege: Part 2

17. The Siege: Part 3

18. The Table of Light

19. The Throes of War

20. The Final Battle

21. Celebration

22. Coronation

Introduction

Iridia was once a peaceful world, cohabited by Elves, Mermen and Dwarfs. Then Man arrived. The original inhabitants soon found that they could not coexist with Man and his many vices. The Elves fled to the forests, the Mermen the oceans and the Dwarfs the mountains. The magical creatures of Iridia, such as the unicorns and griffins, were hunted mercilessly. Dragons, annoyed by Man’s interference in their affairs, retreated to their vast network of caves to slumber. Man discovered magic, engaged in magical experimentation, and arcane magic was formalized. Guilds of wizards were formed and were in high demand in all four kingdoms. Experimentation resulted in hybrid races and black magic, and practitioners of the Dark Arts were banned from all formal guilds. Senior wizards were highly sought after as protectors and advisors to royalty and nobility. All ethical wizards aspired towards guild memberships of the opulent port of Halibar, or the ancient city of Mount Grande.

Two centuries ago, the first Wizard of Light was born, molded with Man’s attributes, but with a special affinity for the primal magical energy of Iridia. He called this cosmic energy the Flow, and found he was as attuned to the Flow as much as his other senses were attuned to his surroundings. Five other Wizards of Light were born since, each with primary powers aligned to his color of the Light. The Six became elite advisors to the royalty of Iridia. Then an ancient entity came to them in their dreams. It hungered for the Flow. It conveyed to them in their nightmares its primordial desire to devour the energies of the world itself. It needed to feed, and it needed them to prepare the world for its coming. The six split into factions of three. Red, Orange and Yellow chose the dark path and became pawns of their Master. Their leader, Rubeus of the Red, initiated the Great Purge. What followed were years of tyranny as the Elves, Dwarfs and other hybrid races were culled to the verge of extinction. The other faction of Blue, Indigo and Violet simply called the entity the Evil. This trio vowed to oppose the oppression of the Triad, before they split up.

When the seventh wizard of Light - Viridian or Vee for short - grew up under the guidance of Azurean, he joined Mauve, the Protector of Halibar. Together, the three wizards of Light prepared Halibar for war. Tyrian chose to stay out of the war for fear of Lissandra’s life, the last of the elves, who had been captured by Rubeus. The Triad eventually attacked at the battle of Halibar, but were thwarted by Vee who used his heightened power over the Flow to save Halibar.

Once the Evil arrived and had begun feeding upon the energies of the world, it was up to Mauve and the dragons to formulate a plan to defeat the Evil. To do so, they had to first oppose the Triad who had the help of the powerful dark wizard Limbar, and this was going to be no easy task. Dare they breach Mount Grande and lay siege upon an impregnable castle?

The question of survival was on everyone’s minds…

Had Vee survived Tyrian’s crazy attack and his fall from the cliffs?

Had Lissandra survived being captured by Rubeus again, after a failed attempt to rescue her?

Would Iridia survive the incessant and inexorable feeding by the Evil?

Synopsis of Book 2: The Rise of Evil

Lissandra, the last of the elves, was now imprisoned in Rubeus’ castle and guarded by a troll they called the Beast. She was joined by the female wizard D’lorna who had been captured by Rubeus at the Battle of Halibar. Rubeus was distraught by his failure, and decided to formulate a series of steps to clear the way for his Master. With the help of Limbar, he contacted Tyrian and threatened to kill the elf unless Tyrian became a spy for him. Tyrian agreed, under extreme duress and anguish.

Halibar went into healing after the war, and Damar was tasked with second-rate recruitment due to a heavily depleted military. Vee, Mauve and Azurean discussed what Vee had accomplished, and can only surmise that Shandar had been the common factor both when he had broken out of Griffin Tower, and when he had enhanced powers over the Flow when in the ‘sphere of influence’.

At a ceremony at the court of Halibar, Albar was put on trial for high treason and unanimously found guilty, to be imprisoned in the palace dungeons. The ceremony concluded with a vote to replace the two senior Guild positions, as D’lorn had been killed in battle, and Albar imprisoned. The orb of truth decreed that Borran and D’lorna had been chosen.

As the Triad and Limbar strategized the way forward, Rubeus declared that he had misinterpreted the Master’s bidding, and needed to get rid of all magical resistance rather than having initiated the Great Purge. Xanthar became violently angry at this revelation and burnt everything in the room to a crisp, with its occupants just about shielding themselves. They discussed Vee and would still decide on how to detain him, with the help of Tyrian.

One day, while Vee was enjoying himself with Lyonara and Shandar, his calling stone began to glow and it was apparent that the dragons were calling for him. Mauve introduced him to Flow Travel once more, and they practised before allowing Vee to travel to the dragons’ location in the Dur’Grande. The green revealed that the dragons had detected the presence of the entity called the Evil, and were preparing for its arrival. Vee was pleasantly surprised to meet dwarfs at the meeting, and it confirmed that they had not all been killed by the Purge. Vee then spoke to the black dragon who revealed the nature of the entity, and told Vee he needed the help of Rubeus to defeat it. The dragons then decided that Vee should find out about the pact between Rubeus and seven red dragons. The green did not give Vee the means to activate the calling stone. Little did they know that it required the dragon’s true name, and that Rubeus had learned it from the stolen brooch of the elf leader. Vee then met with Enric, offered his allegiance to the dwarfs, and told him what the dragons had said.

Tyrian then arrived at Halibar and discussed a plan to rescue Lissandra from Rubeus’ castle. He convinced the others that Vee should travel to the South to enlist the help of the legendary thief Klem to rescue the elf.

Rubeus contacted the Master with Limbar’s dark magic via a communications portal, and the Master told him to ‘get rid of Viridian’. He conveyed the instructions to Tyrian to perform the vile deed, and they both misinterpreted the instruction as to kill Vee instead of making sure he was not present.

Rubeus then met with three reds who demanded their reward – essence of volcano. All seven agreed to join him if given more of the essence. They revealed to him that he only had the power to activate the red calling stone, and although he did have the true name of the Green, they would not tell him how to control the Green.

Vee travelled to the Swamp first on his way to the South. He met the spirit of King Lyons who divulged he had been killed by an errant spell from Cedraine who was dueling Limbar. Once in the South, Vee eventually met Klem after some difficulty, and Klem agreed to find Lissandra and D’lorna for a massive reward of gold, but had a deadline of one week in which to return them safely.

Klem travelled to the castle and grappled up the inaccessible south-eastern face. He observed castle activities from the shadows, and saw Rubeus with his calling stones. He then freed the prisoners from the dungeon after battling two Shades as well as the Beast with his poisonous dagger. However, Klem made the mistake of assuming the Beast was dead, and it went on a rampage, sounding the alarm. Klem then had to make the terrible decision to escape with only one of them. Before they knew it, Lissandra sacrificed herself by running off, buying time for the others to escape. Klem and D’lorna arrived at Halibar by the end of the seventh night. D’lorna was henceforth inducted into the guild as one of the five senior members.

Shandar wanted to visit his family, and Vee was granted permission by Mauve to seek the unicorn’s home as long as he was accompanied by Andobar, the leader of the mermen. Vee visited Enric and conveyed the dragons’ instruction to him, then called for Andobar with his help. Andobar first took Vee to his capital under the ocean and revealed to him the existence of Elixia, where griffins, unicorns and other magical creatures had been diverted when Man arrived. He also spoke of Olde Magic, the magic of nature as used commonly in the days of yore. Then they visited Elixia and Shandar spent time with the other unicorns who he called his family. They visited the glorious griffins and met their king who presented Andobar with a calling stone which could only be used once. Before leaving Iridia, Shandar took them to witness the pristine magnificence of the Waterfalls of the Gods.

Aurora visited Xanthar and told him of her disapproval of the master’s summoning, but maintained allegiance with the Triad. Rubeus called for the Green dragon of Ylondir, and lied that he had the means to control it. The dragon outwitted him and left without imparting any information.

When Vee got back to Halibar he told an astonished Mauve about Elixia, the unicorns and the griffins. Together with Azurean, they discussed the possibility of Shandar being the catalyst that allowed Vee heightened control of the Flow, and tried to simulate it without success. They decided that Vee’s emotions had to be real in order for his eyes to glow green and enter an elevated state as he had done at the Battle of Halibar.

During a violently stormy night in Halibar, Limbar the Black made an appearance, easily broke his brother Albar the White out of prison, and returned to his Black Tower in Mount Grande. Limbar asked his brother for help in summoning the Master, upon which he agreed in return for knowledge as well as re-summoning the demon Shagh’rak. They summoned the demon, and Albar showed the ability to control and converse with it.

In a meeting with Mauve and Azurean, Tyrian managed to convince them to allow him to take Vee to the Cliffs of Dorova. Mauve insisted that Damar accompany them. Tyrian was distraught thinking about the vile deed he was about to perform. He was not aware that Mauve had secretly told Azurean to follow them undetected.

Atop Rubeus’ castle, Limbar with the help of Albar managed to finally summon the entity whom Rubeus called the Master. Upon his arrival, he immediately asked about Vee and gave Rubeus a deadline. He then asked to be taken to the volcano just above the castle, then hovered over the crater and began to feed on the energy of the world.

The trio of Vee, Tyrian and Damar made their way up to the windy cliffs of Dorova, unaware that Azurean had followed them. As Vee moved closer to the edge, and before anyone could react, Tyrian sent a blast of energy towards Vee which hit him squarely in the chest. Vee fell, floating towards a rocky death at the bottom.

1. Battle atop the World

Two elderly wizards faced each other high above the world of Iridia. The white-haired one, dressed in a sky blue cloak, had an intense loathing in his cyan eyes. The grey-haired one, dressed in a somewhat weather-faded violet cloak, was trembling in cold and fear, and seemed dazed and confused as tears streaked down his furrowed face. A shimmering violet portal was open next to him, but he could not move as the blue wizard had placed an enchantment over him. A tall, strong soldier, with shock and anger etched across his face, came bounding in towards them. Suddenly, all three had to stop to look upwards momentarily as a great shadow fell over them. They heard a frenzied flapping of wings and then a primal shriek that pierced their very beings. A large green dragon was hovering over them, surveying the scene below.

The dragon had no time to lose. The young wizard of green was not among these three creatures below. Then it spied something falling towards the rocks far below. It had to make a split second decision. It aligned its neck and legs downwards and streamlined its wurmlike body for maximum speed. Then, like an arrow shot out of a bow, it hurtled towards the speck. As the dragon accelerated, it realized the speck was the unconscious green wizard after all, floating with hands outstretched towards a certain death. The dragon did not entertain failure in its mind. It was a confident creature, but had to strain every iota of its powerful magical being to reach the wizard in time. Just as the wizard was about to crash into the rocks, he was grabbed by the outstretched claws of the dragon, which had to decelerate with great force and veer away from the rocks, missing them by a hair’s breadth.

It carried him towards Halibar, the opulent coastal city that had recently been besieged and depleted of resources by a great war. It flew besides the Cliffs of Dorova over the ocean towards a golden beach, then over a magnificent palace of rectangular marble walls, golden domes and lush gardens arranged in tiers. The palace guards ran around in fear and excitement, sounding the alarm. The dragon was not seeking an audience. It merely wanted to deliver its parcel and return to an important conference in the Dur’Grande Mountains. It spied a pedestal near a secluded fountain in the palace grounds which was a distance away from the palace entrance. This seemed ideal to the dragon, as it didn’t want a conflict with the indigo wizard who lived in the palace. It swooped, descended gently, and placed the young wizard on the pedestal.

Mauve heard the alarm and came rushing out of the palace court, which was the main entrance to the palace. She was just in time to witness the great green dragon flap its powerful wings and escape to the skies with a great whoosh. The wizard and the dragon had detected each other’s presence. The dragon screamed in acknowledgement then disappeared into the distance. Although Mauve had not seen the dragon delivering Vee, she detected Vee’s weak life force when the dragon had taken off, even though she couldn’t recognize Vee at that distance. She teleported to the fountain immediately.

She gasped as she saw her unconscious nephew lying on the pedestal, with a terrible burn on his chest, the source of which had made a hole through his magical emerald- green cloak. She could not waste any time to try to heal him magically. Mauve was not only the wizard of Indigo, as well as the Protector of Halibar – she was the foremost healer in the whole of Iridia due to the powerful magic she commanded. She gestured and waved her hands over the fountain, and jets of powerful indigo magic spurted up from the water, creating a soft platform for Vee to lie on. She pointed one hand at Vee, and he was gently lifted off the pedestal with Mauve’s masterful control of the Flow – a cosmic energy that the wizards of Light could control masterfully. As she directed her hand towards the fountain, Vee floated in the same direction until he was placed gently over the bed of magic, where he was buoyed by the soothing spurts of water magic.

By now, a few palace guards had come bolting towards the scene with swords drawn. She just held her hand up to them, signifying that she had the situation under control. As she acted upon the grave situation with worry evident on her face, a multitude of thoughts crossed her mind. Why did she allow Tyrian to convince her to take Vee for a walk? Did Tyrian do this? He had been acting like a madman recently, but to go to these lengths? What of Azurean and Damar? Were they powerless to stop this? And… where o where did the dragon come from? She had a mixture of gratitude and confusion on her mind, but made sure that she maintained concentration on the healing process.

She placed her hand over Vee’s chest, and drew every ounce of healing knowledge and energy from her being. She concentrated deeply and let the healing magic flow from her - the Flow from the fountain water, the Flow from the earth, and the Flow from the air around them. The ancient primal energy streamed with a specific purpose – to heal the damage caused by a spell of ill-intent and restore the weak life force of a young wizard who was fighting for his life with every drawing breath. As the intensity of the energy flow increased, the indigo light around Vee’s chest became brighter. After a while, the entire fountain was surrounded by an indigo glow and an ancient concordant hum like a celestial being strumming a bass guitar. Such was its intensity that both Vee and Mauve were lifted off the ground and floated over the fountain, buoyed by the magic that held them in place.

After an anxious wait by Mauve and the courtiers and guards who surrounded the fountain, came the first sign that the magic had begun to work. Vee arched his back suddenly, and took in a deep breath. Then he opened his eyes and tried to focus on his surroundings. His brilliant green eyes were dazed and confused. He tried to speak but Mauve held her other hand gently over his lips, beseeching him not to speak. The effort was too much for Vee, and he lost consciousness once more. Mauve just continued the magical treatment with disregard for her own health.

Earlier, on the Cliffs of Dorova, the passing-by of the dragon did little to interrupt the frenetic battle that was about to ensue. However, the dragon had provided a distraction that gave Tyrian time to jolt himself back to his senses. He sensed that Azurean had placed a powerful holding spell on him. He concentrated on the Flow from the powerful winds that blew deafeningly around the cliff, channeled it towards himself and used it to break the magical shackles. The portal was but a few paces away but he couldn’t get to it just yet. Azurean hurled another spell at Tyrian, but by now Tyrian was aware of the danger and set up a violet shield between himself and the angry blue wizard. Damar was almost upon him now, with sword drawn, but Halibar’s greatest warrior was no match for a wizard of Light. Tyrian pointed his left hand at Damar and unleashed a deadly bolt of violet at the soldier, which struck him in the chest and knocked him backwards. The blast would have killed an ordinary soldier, but Tyrian was aware of Damar’s special armor and had released just enough energy to render him unconscious. One murder was enough for a lifetime.

Damar always wore a spectacular silver chainmail, forged eons ago from a mysterious metal found deep within the bowels of the mountains. The chainmail had the ability to absorb magical energy, and had saved his life once again. The greatest irony was that his great magical broadsword was given to him by none other than Tyrian many years ago, when Tyrian had served on Halibar’s advisory council. The sword also had the ability to absorb magical energy and had sponged a good deal of the blast.

By now, Azurean had cast another spell which destroyed the shield, and Tyrian had to turn to face his adversary once more.

Why? screamed Azurean.

I’m… I’m sorry, said Tyrian, truly heartbroken by what he had done.

Sorry? Sorry will not bring back Vee, you madman! screeched Azurean hoarsely, so livid that he trembled all over. Azurean had raised Vee from the moment he was born, and was more than a father to him.

You… wouldn’t understand, said Tyrian in a whisper, which was drowned by the howling winds around the cliff.

Azurean lip-read the last word.

"Understand this!" he thought with gritted teeth, as he prepared to unleash another spell.

He pretended to aim the spell at Tyrian, who threw up a counterspell, but aimed it at the portal instead, which reduced and closed with a pop. Tyrian stared in dismay. He would have to get the better of his old friend now. There was no way he could go back to Halibar to face trial.

Tyrian immersed himself in a protective shield which he estimated could take three blasts from Azurean. Then, while Azurean hurled offensive spells at him, he took the time to concentrate once more on the Flow around him. As the air was already energetic around them, he used the air element of the Flow to create a powerful whirlwind behind Azurean. The blue wizard was so angry and caught up in his attempts to destroy Tyrian’s shield, that he didn’t notice the particular resonances of air magic that should ordinarily have been so obvious to him. The whirlwind enveloped him, hoisted him into the air, spun him around, and made him dizzy and disoriented. Tyrian used this distraction to create another portal, and was just about to step into it when an inaccurate blast of blue energy glanced off him, causing him to stagger sideways.

Oh no you don’t! screamed Azurean, stumbling around after falling from the whirlwind.

Azurean then tried to hurl an entangling web spell at him, which Tyrian half countered. Some of the magic hit him in the stomach, and he cried out in pain while he writhed on the floor, trying to dispel the magic. Azurean then pointed both hands at him and tried to create another magical shackle. He was determined to return his chained prisoner to Halibar. However, Tyrian had other ideas. He rolled over just in the nick of time, as the spell’s energy dissipated into the ground next to the portal. He stuck out his right hand and hurled a particularly powerful bolt of energy towards Azurean. The blue wizard was fooled once more, concentrating on countering the blast; however the blast hit the ground at his feet as intended. It created a mound of dirt and grass which blew all over, getting into Azurean’s eyes. Tyrian was a devious duellist indeed. It gave him the time needed to dive into the portal and close it behind him.

When Azurean came to his senses, he dropped to his knees in despair. Tears came to his eyes as he thought of Vee. He didn’t for once think that the dragon had been there to save Vee. He looked back at the limp form