Part III – Mage Monolith

The Power Array Saga

Tales of the Sword and the Peach

Momotaru never got a chance to take a shower. The smell of blood was a sharp contrast to the perfumes that permeated the air.

The young mage whispered, “If we die here, I would like to know your name.”

“Shut up.”

“Well, Shut up, my name is Arif Zahur.”

Momotaru did not respond. He continued to lurk in the shadows, waiting for his new partner to guide him through the secret underground labyrinth nicknamed the Mage Monolith.

Above ground a two hundred meter tall obelisk made of pure energy, photons of light packed tightly together to resemble a large, glowing laser stopping in a sharp tip. The land around the monument was sparse, a green lawn stretched for hundreds of meters with a sprinkling of trees. Underneath the pristine calm above ground were kilometers of tunnels with massive rooms containing the secrets of magic.

Mages walked unknowingly past the two intruders hiding in a bubble of invisibility. Arif Zahur had discovered a few tricks that he kept hidden from his teachers. The invisibility spell gave off a vestige of magical energy that could be seen by any mage. Arif Zahur concealed the trail of his magic spell by splicing different elements together. He used a spell titled Transplacing which would throw off adept mages. Peering around the dark grey stone blocks, they waited for the hallway to clear. The pair moved and slowly worked their way through the compound. The North Library held scrolls stacked tight together on dozens of shelves, lined up and arranged to turn the room into a maze.

Zahur and Momotaru walked up to the guard standing in front of round, safe-like door. Zahur dropped the invisibility spell. The mage standing guard died with a look of surprise in his eyes and a bloody grin on his neck. Zahur un-spliced the magical bindings on the door and bound the lone mage in the room with invisible weaves of air. He gathered up the necessary books reading as he went.

“There is one last stop to make before we can leave,” said Zahur.

The Headmaster Arch-Mage of the tower was old and decrepit but held a wealth of knowledge. Zahur focused his attention on the texts currently in his hand, flipping through the pages and committing any unknown spells to memory. They strolled through the corridors of the Mage Monolith complex in a bubble of invisibility. Zahur looked up periodically from the gigantic text and gave directions. The duo reached a large room at the end of a hall.

The headmasters bedchamber.

The old man lay in bed asleep. He could barely speak but that did not stop him from awaking just in time to cast a spell.

Zahur threw up a shield but lost his precious books in the process.

Leaping out of the shield once the Headmaster Arch-Mage’s lightning spell dissipated, Momotaru drove his blade through the old man’s frail stomach.

Zahur walked over to his dying teacher, “I learned what I needed to from those old books anyway,” he said. “Before you die take comfort in the fact that all of your knowledge will live on through me.” Zahur passed a hand over the old man’s eyes, thumb and forefinger pressed against his temple. He recited the ancient elfish lyrics. Zahur’s eyes shot open as a thousand years’ worth of information soaked into his brain. Pulses of light transferred a lifetime of knowledge from the Arch-Mage’s brain, through Zahur’s hand and then into his mind. His body went stiff, pupils rolled back. As suddenly as the seizures began they were over. Zahur collapsed to the floor.

Momotaru pulled the blade from the old man and wiped the blood on the blanket.

Zahur slowly got up, “Come, let us teleport out of here, Momotaru-san.”

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