Wizard Trials: Chapter 157 (Patreon)

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          When Draevin opened his eyes, Tenna was standing over him. There were no details in the dream this time, just a formless black void around them. She had a faraway look in her eyes that spoke of sorrow just beneath the surface. Her body had become so transparent he could see more darkness behind her.

          “Tenna?” Draevin asked. “Am I… dead?”

          Tenna shook her head. “No, Draevin. You’re still alive.”

          “What happened?”

          Tenna pursed her lips and looked off into the middle distance. There was a long, quiet pause before she finally spoke again. “I want you to know that I’m proud of you,” she said.

          “What do you mean?” Draevin asked. “Why are you proud of me? What happened? I—I remember…” Flashes of memories started to come back to him: flying through the sky, fighting Peter with the power of a god.

          “You drew on the full power of the World Tree. The very source of the Conflux and magic itself. You were brilliant,” Tenna said. She looked back down at him and there were tears just starting to form in the corner of her eyes. “I… I tried to stop them…”

          Draevin sat up. His head swam from the effort and he might have fallen over if he was standing, which seemed like a strange sensation to feel in a dream. He used an arm to stabilize himself, then looked Tenna directly in the eyes. “Tenna. What happened?”

          “The Rite of Severing,” Tenna said. “It’s done. Eldira is cut off from the World Tree. Cut off from existence itself.”

          “Wha—But we wiped it out! The Blackroot was gone! Or was that another lie of Peter’s?”

          Tenna shook her head. “No, no lie. That’s not why they did it. They did it because of what you did.”

          “Me?” Draevin asked, incredulous.

          “The power you drew…” Tenna trailed off for a moment before continuing. “It was too much strain. You wounded the World Tree. Greatly. Worlds were falling out of balance. They were afraid that if they didn’t stop you, the tree, God itself, would die. They couldn’t take that chance. The Tuan’diath have gathered from many thousands of worlds since the dawn of creation. Protecting the World Tree and the worlds within it is their sacred duty. There was nothing I could have said to stop them once you started to draw such power from it.”

          “I was…” Draevin wanted to say he was fighting Peter, but that hardly seemed like an excuse given the circumstances. “What happens now?” He asked instead. “What is going to happen to our world?”

          “In time it will die,” Tenna said sadly. “Any souls trapped here will wander aimlessly until they fade away. Eventually, whatever is left will crumble into the void, and cease to exist.”

          “That is… horrible! Is there anything I can do?” Draevin asked. “I took Chaska’nal’s divine seed. Can I… I don’t know—keep the world from falling apart?”

          Tenna shook her head. “No,” she said. “Even with all you stole, you only have a fraction of the power needed to hold together an entire world left inside you. With the power you have available to you, you might be able to sustain a small plot of land. You could remake your childhood home if you wanted. The one we used to have our talks at.”

          “I don’t want to live in a tiny world though,” Draevin said. “What kind of life would that be?”

          “If you would prefer, we could try to travel to Hell and settle there instead. It’s on the other side of the cut and sustained by the Blackroot. I don’t really recommend we stay in Eldira. Not only is it going to get really cold soon, but there isn’t even going to be any air to breathe eventually.”

          “What about that shadow world?” Draevin asked. “I heard that Istven killed all the monsters that used to live there. I think I might prefer to settle there if we have a choice.”

          Tenna shook her head. “The Severing was made just beyond that realm,” she explained. “Eldira is fully and completely cut off from all the realms of the World Tree. No more shadow realm, no more ice realm, no more magic of any kind. Not even the Tuan’diath, with all their power, can reach us now.”

          Draevin blinked. “Wait… how are we talking right now then? Aren’t you a Tuan’diath?”

          “I’m not a Tuan’diath anymore,” Tenna said. “I’m just a spirit of magic. I tried to stop the others. They kicked me out.”

          Draevin almost gasped. “Did you do that for—”

          “Yes,” Tenna said to Draevin’s unfinished question. “Screw those jerks. I wasn’t going to abandon you. We’re in this together. Now get up.”

          “Together where?” Draevin asked. He finally looked around at the darkness surrounding him. It turned out it wasn’t the complete darkness he’d first assumed. Maybe a hundred paces distant he saw a flame floating above the ground. It looked like torchlight. He felt the ground beneath his hands. It felt like mundane dirt. “Wait,” Draevin said. “Am I… awake right now?”

          Tenna chuckled softly to herself. “Can you really not tell the difference, Drae?”

          “Well don’t we normally meet in dreams?” Draevin asked. “How is it so dark? Even at night there’re usually stars in the sky.”

          Tenna pointed upward. “The sun, the stars… all of them came from the World Tree. What did you think would happen when Eldira was Severed?”

          Draevin’s heart dropped into the pit of his stomach. The sun… was… gone? How? What was he even supposed to do in the face of that? “I guess I assumed Eldira would be completely annihilated. Isn’t that what you said would happen?”

          Tenna gave Draevin a guilty smile. “I just said that to motivate you,” she admitted. “The truth is I’m seeing what happens to a Severed world for the first time myself. We Tuan’diath didn’t actually know what happened to them for sure. Some thought they just dissolved, but a few of us theorized it was more of a slower death. I guess they were right.”

          “So if we didn’t dissolve does that mean there’s still hope? I mean all we’d have to do is figure out how to live without a sun. Is that entirely necessary for survival?”

          Tenna nodded. “Of course it is. Without the sun no plants can grow, there’s nothing to keep you warm. The people left can huddle up for warmth, maybe use fire to stay warm, but they’ll starve to death no matter what, even if they manage to not freeze right away. The important thing is that we’ll have time to try to come up with a solution.”

          Draevin found his staff was still lying on the ground next to him. He used it to leverage himself back on his feet. It felt different than he remembered. When he tried grabbing it by the handle, he realized why that was: his staff was no longer something special, it was merely a piece of dead wood. “Uh, my staff doesn’t seem to be working,” he commented to Tenna.

          “I know,” Tenna said. “The Elder Tree was greatly damaged in your fight. It’s still a sapling. It might not make it. It no longer has any magic to spare. We can talk about that more later though; we have a guest.” Tenna pointed to her right.

          A ball of torchlight floated through the darkness towards them. As it got closer Draevin could make out the face of a young man reflected in that light. He recognized the distinctly elven features of the man: the high cheekbones, the pointed ears, the blue eyes—just like his mother’s. “Uncle D?” Graevin said, sounding hesitant and just a little bit scared. “I heard talking. Is that you?”

          Draevin tackled his nephew into a tight hug. The sight of him almost made him cry. As he held him, Draevin realized Graevin might be the last person he had left to care about. He didn’t want to let go. He felt so numb inside. There was so much loss. All for… he didn’t know what. It seemed so pointless now.

          “Is that Tenna? What is she doing here?” Graevin asked while being squeezed.

          “Hi,” Tenna said. “Yes, I’m here now. I had to use what was left of my statue as a vessel.”

          Draevin released his nephew and held him at arm’s length. “I was sent to get someone in charge,” Graevin said. “The others were too afraid to enter the gardens after the fighting. Everyone that was inside the walls during the fight got incinerated. If you hadn’t ordered me to guard the Southern gate I might have been hit too.” He looked between Draevin and Tenna in turn.

          “I didn’t actually—” Draevin shook his head. It would take too long to explain that the Draevin that his nephew had been fighting alongside for the last day was actually just an illusion. It was kind of hard to believe. He still had some questions about how Peter had pulled that one off and fooled everyone, even in the heat of battle. It probably didn’t matter anymore. “It looks like it’s just Tenna and I left,” Draevin said. “So I guess that puts me in charge unless someone more important shows up. What did you need?”

          “There’s a vampire at the gates,” Graevin said. “Just the one. She’s not attacking anyone and she’s asking to be let in. The gate captain isn’t sure what to do. He wanted to just kill her and be done with it, but she insisted she had diplomatic immunity. It’s… weird.”

          “Does this vamp have really long, purple hair?” Draevin asked.

          “How did you know?”

          Draevin sighed. Caelnaste. He turned to face Tenna. “What do you think?” he asked. “Should we go to Hell?”

          “Your call,” Tenna said. “You’re the one who will have to live there. It might be dangerous. I just remembered you could also try to travel down to Kreet. The Tuan’diath all felt the enchantment Tarrish put up before the Blackroot reached his land. Kreet is in a suspended state and should be safe for several thousand years. You would have to convince them to let you in, though.”

          Draevin thought about his options. They all just felt like different flavors of shit: tiny world, Hell, or knocking on Tarrish’s front door. After his last encounter with the dragons of Telnarim, Draevin wasn’t inclined to want to take the latter option unless his hand was forced. “Okay,” Draevin told his nephew. “I’ll talk to Caelnaste. It’s probably better we keep our options open anyway.”

          “Uncle D…” Graevin said. His voice had notes of anxiety under the surface. “What’s going on? There were these great big earthquakes, then the sun just went out. I’m… scared.”

          Draevin shared a look with Tenna. “Just stay close to me,” he said. “We’re going to find a way to take care of as many people as we can.” He didn’t think he could look his nephew in the eye and tell him that their world was literally dying, or that there was a good chance they might have to live in Hell if they didn’t want to die along with it. He was glad of the darkness, which gave him the excuse he needed to avoid eye contact.

          Graevin led the way back towards the Southern gate. The ground they walked over was scorched and blackened. When they got there, they found a small cluster of soldiers gathered around the gate. Their armor was stained with black demon blood, like they’d been in the thick of the fighting. “Draevin, sir!” their captain said, giving a sharp salute. “We have been holding the gate, as you ordered. No demons have broken through.”

          Draevin counted the men. Including their captain, there were only five of them. He hoped he could find more survivors than that. “Umm, good work,” he told the captain. “I like the… dedication. I’m told a vampire is trying to get inside?”

          “Yes, sir,” the captain said. “I would have ordered my men to kill her, but Graevin here wanted to check first if anyone important had survived who could verify her claims. Is Istven with you? Alex, maybe?”

          “No,” Draevin told them. “It’s just me. I want you to open the gate. I have reason to believe the vampire on the other side of it could offer some much-needed assistance.”

          “Oh, Draevin, I’m touched to hear that!” Caelnaste’s voice called out from the other side of the gate. She didn’t sound very sincere. “I told you I was somebody important, you feathered oaf. Now let me in!”

          “Do it,” Draevin commanded. “Let her in.”

          The gate captain saluted again. “As you say. Open the gates!”

          A pair of soldiers pulled the gates open. Caelnaste strode through the gap as confidently as ever. “Well now,” she said. “Isn’t this quite the predicament? Eldira is dead, everyone on it doomed. Don’t you worry though, I’m here to help. Like always.”

          “Yeah, right,” Draevin scoffed. “Like you helped when you tried to take Chaska’nal’s divine seed? Listen, we may need to evacuate to Hell. You obviously know that, so go ahead and name your price to take us there. Then I’ll decide if I’m willing to pay it.”

          Caelnaste smiled wickedly, rubbing her tongue over her fangs. “My price,” she said, “is freedom.” She tapped the icy collar still wrapped around her neck. Draevin only vaguely remembered using an enchantment on her before leaving to fight Peter. “That starts with removing this collar,” she said.

          “Oh, sorry,” Draevin said. He dismissed it with a wave, gasping with surprise as a burst of mana flooded into him. Had he really held so much power before that he could spend so much casually? He felt like the power inside him doubled with just the mana invested in Caelnaste’s collar. “What else did you want?” Draevin asked. “I know it wasn’t just the removal of that collar.”

          “I want true freedom, Draevin. I want to stay in this world.”

          “Didn’t you just comment on how this world is dead? Why would you want to stay here?”

          “Because it doesn’t have to stay dead,” Caelnaste said. “You are a god, Draevin. A mule-headed, stubborn god. You’ve always been able to handle more power than you had any right to. Why do you think I went after that seed? Because I knew you’d try to take it first if you saw me going for it. If I had instructed you to take it, you would have been suspicious and refused. So predictable. So easy to manipulate.” As soon as Caelnaste said the words, Draevin knew them to be true. At least the part about making him take it by trying to take it herself, he didn’t seriously believe she lost their race on purpose. She was just doing her usual and trying to turn both outcomes to her maximum advantage. She poked Draevin in the chest. “I want you to use that seed’s power to remake Eldira.”

          “He’s a god?” Graevin repeated. His eyes went as wide as they could go.

          Draevin waved him aside. “Barely,” he assured his nephew. He glared at Caelnaste. “Not that I actually believe you let me take that seed,” he told her, “but Tenna informs me I’m only strong enough to sustain a small plot of land. I can’t remake a whole planet, let alone the missing sun. Did you have some kind of trick in mind? A way to undo the Rite of Severing?”

          “Draevin, Draevin, Draevin,” Caelnaste said, shaking her head. “You really think I want to be connected to the rest of their little worlds? As soon as they decide you’re a threat”—she snapped her fingers—“they take you out. No. This was always the plan. Now that we’re free of them I can make you strong enough to keep this world alive.” She looked around. “Where’s Brorn? He was supposed to be here. We’ll need his help.”

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