Seekers of the Stone Maker

Leaf and Lyla walked over to Ramona’s cabin, and he could already feel the energy rippling off his hands. He felt an excitement with Necromancy that no other magic gave, and while it scared him a little, he didn’t show it. His mind raced wildly.

It had been just over half a decade since he left Rutherglen with the sole purpose of understanding the concepts of raising the dead. The theories he had learned only proposed the idea of bringing a body to an animated state that could be controlled for a period of time, but nothing more. It wasn’t until he met Orin and started his tutelage under the Archmage that they began to break strides on doing more.

Orin had notes from previous Archmages about meeting creatures so devoted to their deities that they had been given the power to bring souls back to lost ones, but there was never anything on how it happened. Most of the perspective was on a deity granting a power, channeling it through a living creature.

There must be a way, though…

Leaf thought back on the recent fight with the gnolls. His hand went into the dimensional hole that was the entrance of the pouch, then went deeper in, reaching to his elbow before feeling something touch his palm. Carefully, he grasped onto the fur he felt and pulled. Weightless, the head of the creature appeared as it exited the pouch, followed by its body, until it gained weight again and crumpled to the grass.

Leaf looked over the body and saw that, while there were still wounds, the creature had not decayed while in his bag. Even then, he could see blood that had not finished coagulating on its clothing. He looked over at Lyla, whose face revealed slight disgust at the body, but she didn’t talk.

Leaf placed the bag on his belt again and pulled his spellbook from the inside pocket of his robes. Quickly moving pages, he found the first spell that Orin and he had worked on. Leaf stared at it, seeing the difference in calligraphy between his young age and Orin’s centuries of skill. The symbols he created were calm and artistic, where Leaf’s were jutted, the jagged lines and sharp corners with blots of ink as he tried to write with his quill quickly. One was of study and expertise. The other was a hunger for knowledge.

Setting the book back in his pocket, Leaf pulled the shadowglass dagger from its sheath on his waist. Placing the tip of it at the center of his palm, he pressed in, piercing the skin until he felt bone. He winced slightly at the pain, then pulled the dagger back out, cleaned it against his pant leg, and put it back in its sheath. Raising his hand, he let the incantation flow from his lips as droplets of blood fell onto the gnoll’s corpse.

Dal ussta qloav, usstan lar ulu tau

Ussta daewl ulu morfeth, dos’ll an’yui ulu uns’aa

Ku’lam lueth animate, fre’sla xuil lorugen

Elghinn h’ros quin ser tau!

He felt the energy move from his core, down his arm, and out the pierced wound. A blackened-green wave pulsed from the creature as the last drops of blood fell onto the corpse. Buzzing sounds took over his hearing as the creature slowly cracked bones back into place until it stood limply before him, looking forward. Its eyes became pale, the irises fading in the brief time it had been out of the dimensional space of his arcane bag. The energy pulsed between the two of them, and he smiled.

“Go. Search the cabin,” Leaf commanded the creature, pointing at Ramona’s campground home.

The creature turned slowly and then walked toward the cabin. For Leaf, it felt like he was controlling a marionette doll mentally, feeling the muscles move, weak from the lack of blood moving through its body. It strained his mind, but he kept focused. He watched as it walked inside and then started moving through the interior.

“You have control of it?” Lyla asked.

“Yes.”

They watched as he controlled it. The gnoll corpse moved from the bed to the desk, picking up items and displaying them for Leaf to see before dropping it roughly where it was retrieved. It wasn’t elegant, but it was working. Leaf could see the open deck of cards on the desk. He pushed the creature towards it and tried to make it grasp it carefully.

The gnoll’s corpse erupted in flame in a rush of heat that caused Leaf to turn his head away. The fire seemed captured in a cylinder that rose to the ceiling, leaving scorch marks on the wood before vanishing as quickly as it came, leaving only ash and teeth on the floor.

“What was that!?”

“Another trap. I’m glad we didn’t get caught in it last night.”

“Do you think that’s what the glyph on the ground was for? To ensure someone triggered it?” Lyla looked concerned, looking down at her arms where the black curse points were just yesterday.

“Possibly. I have one last idea, but it won’t be terribly helpful.”

Leaf opened his spellbook once more and waved his hand over the glyph on the parchment. His hand turned from one to two, as a spectral, floating one followed until it formed before him.

“I have to get a little closer.”

Leaf walked forward, the hand following at his shoulder. Once he was fifteen feet from the door, he mentally commanded it to move past him and inside the building.

Close the door. He commanded it.

His eyes looked over to the desk again. The deck of cards still sat there, unharmed… untouched. Warmth hit his skin, and he stood still, just staring.

“What are you doing, Leaf?”

“The cards are right there,” He answered.

“I think we should stop. We’ve done all we can and haven’t found anything else.”

“But the cards.”

“Leaf?”

He could feel Lyla moving in front of him, looking right into his eyes, but it seemed he couldn’t take his gaze away from them. He wanted them. He had to have them.

“I’m going to get the cards,” He stated as he stepped forward.

Lyla grabbed his wrist, holding him in place.

“No, Leaf. Look at me.”

She turned him away from Ramona’s cabin, and he felt the heat leave his face. He blinked, confused as to what came over him.

“I- I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened there.”

Leaf felt something brush against his elbow. He looked down and saw the spectral hand had returned. In its palm was the deck. His unheld hand rose toward it.

“Look, they came to me…”

Only six cards were in the deck, but they were hanging out of the top just enough for him to grab one easily. Near him, he could hear the sound of frosted grass crunching, growing louder by the second.

“Leaf, no!”

His fingers grasped one of the cards as something hit him from the side. He crashed to the ground, sliding into the grass and mud. Looking over, he saw Mr. Muffins next to him, still holding him down. The feeling of want passed, followed by fear, as he looked down into his hand and saw the card still there. The wind blew fiercely cold, causing a tornado effect around the three of them.

The card was made of a type of vellum, but the ink seemed to move and shift as he looked at it. The picture contained three women of various ages in black robes. Above them, three moons shone next to each other in waning, full, and waxing states. They held a golden cord between them, while the other had a beautiful pair of scissors as large as a set of daggers.

His vision faded to white, and the rest of his senses failed. He was utterly alone, lost in a void. Then, the voice came to him.

What is your one regret, Archmage Leaf of Rutherglen?

Regret? He asked the voice.

Yes…

The white faded, revealing a graveyard at the top of a hill. Below to the West was a small village. His vision moved from one grave to another. He didn’t need the name. He didn’t even need to see the place where his feet walked hundreds of times in less than two months before leaving for Berkton. He felt the lost soul connected to his and let it guide him. He stopped and glanced down at the grave Leaf had dug before him.

My one regret.

The Fates agree…

The wind erupted around him, harder and faster, and he grabbed Mr. Muffins. His eyesight returned, and they both looked up to see something moving through the sky. Its scales and leather-like wings flew low, wind gusting around as it soared. The gargantuan blue dragon passed over the campground as the home of the carnival troupe froze in panic. It passed as quickly as it came, and Leaf sank into the ground in relief and fear. The dragon wouldn’t be an issue today, but something happened when the card was pulled.