Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 19:56:02 -0400 From: Matthew Amos Subject: Black Adept part 2 The characters and plot in this story are copyrighted by the author. All the characters in this story are purely products of my imagination and are not based on real people. Any resemblance is purely coincidental and is not intended. If you are looking for just sex this is not the story for you. Most of the romance will take place in later chapters if I continue the story This is my first attempt at a story and I hope that you like if you have any positive feedback I would love to here it. You can email me at BlackAdept@Hotmail.com I am going to try to get one chapter a week out but I am a university student so sometimes I might not have time. Also am not that good at editing my own work so you might find a few mistakes. The Black Adept Chapter 1 Training and Trials By Matt While the darkness was engulfing me I thought about my pain, loneliness, and the rejection I felt. I cursed gods for taunting me with happiness just so they could pull it away. All these and many more turbulent thoughts were going though my head but I felt at peace. I embraced the darkness, the pain, the loneliness, and emptiness I embraced them all along with my coming death. Without ever realizing it through all this I embraced the Void completely and without doubt or remorse. For the darkness around me was the Void which stands between all planes even life and the afterlife. Then something that never happened before occurred the Void embraced me back. You need to understand that a Void mages power comes from the strength of their link to the Void. The stronger the connection the less power it takes to do the same thing so. Since I was trying to kill myself the Void in its almost basic intelligence figured I was giving myself completely and without doubt to the Void forming an incredibly strong connection. It didn't realize that I didn't even know that I was performing a poorly done ritual of embracing the Void. Enchanted blade, blood offering, rejection of the gods, and finally in the mind at least separating yourself from the rest of the world. Those are the bare essentials of the ritual to embrace the Void. So here I was lying on the floor of my old master's chamber not knowing what was going on. I kept thinking that I should be dead but I wasn't, virtually all the blood had drained from my body at this point but I was still alive. I didn't realize that with my blood gone the Void was transforming the magical energies in my body to keep me alive. I had no clue what was happening to me and it was terrifying me. I could feel the strength returning to my body, I was still weak but I could move. That was when I realized that there was no blood on the floor. I was starting to think I was crazy at that point, that I had imagined killing myself. Then I heard the door start to open and I looked up to see a women enter. She looked to be around thirty with bright red hair. She was beautiful to put it simply, the type of woman that any guy no matter their age would stop everything to watch go by, well every straight guy at least. She was wearing a robe so black that it seemed to drain the light from the room. Then I looked at her eyes and a chill ran down my spine. They were completely black, no color or whites just black. She looked me over then said, "Follow me, I will see what I can do with you." Then started walking out of the room. I should there frozen not knowing what to do. It took her a few seconds to realize that I was not following. She turned and said, "I don't want to hurt you but right now I have only two choices train you or kill you so decide quickly." Then with sudden comprehension she said, "You don`t know what you just did do you?" I just shook my head. She just got this peculiar expression on her face then said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You just performed a Void ritual you are now a Void Mage so come with me." I was horrified, I couldn't be a black mage, could I? I was always taught that Void mages were evil I never considered that a magic was only was evil or good as the one using it. Necromancers you can understand why some people don't like them, almost everyone fears death to some degree but they control it. Demon mage, while that sort of speaks for itself. There are two reasons that we are why Void mages are considered evil. First is that when you embrace the Void your magic potential (maximum power you can hold within yourself) doesn't change but your natural ability to replenish it is removed. This means the only way to replenish your strength is to take it from others. If you take to much power you can kill the one you are draining it from. Some Void mages in the past created a bad name for Void magic through this. The second reason is that Void mages reject the gods which also means they reject the natural order of the world. Over the years I came up with tow more reasons why people think we are evil. The black eyes creep the hell out of anyone who sees them. Also the `Nameless language' that Void mages use to cast spells sounds like a combination of a wolf's snarl, a scream of terror, and nails across a chalkboard. To most we look, act, and even speak in a way that seems evil so we must be evil. Any way back to the story. "I can't be a Void mage I'm not evil." That got me look that could curdle milk followed by one that made feel like a complete idiot. "Well you are a Void mage or at least one in training. As to be evil that is up to you but if you were I would have to kill you. Now follow me." With that she walked away without looking to see if I was following which I was. She only led me around the corner before she opened up a secret passage in the wall. We traveled far below the Academy through a maze of passage ways before we stopped. We were in a room that looked like any regular wizard's laboratory tables covered in chemicals, walls lined with bookshelves, desks covered in papers, and racks full of wands, staffs, and magic knives. My thoughts were interrupted suddenly by a her voice. "OK now that were safe what is your name, I am Dalenti Black Adept of the Academy." "Truin Deskar student second level of the Academy studying wizardry and sorcery." "Not anymore, you are Truin apprentice of the Black Adept.Nothing else, we give up all our connections to the outside world including our last name, which you are probably happy to lose." She went to tell me the history of the Black Adepts and their role in protecting the Academy over the millennia. She told me of her own life and how she ended up the Black Adept. I learned I was little off in my guess of her age she was four hundred and sixty-eight years old. By the time a Void mage masters their magic their aging stops. I learned that I would not have to often draw energy out of people since with so much energy in the air around the Academy I could just use that. I spent the next five years learning the ways of a Void mage and the secrets they keep. I learned my way through the tunnels under and through the Academy. I studied the works of past Black Adepts and started on my own. It is a tradition that each new Black Adept create a new way of using Void magic. For example the second Black Adept of the third Academy created the portals instantaneous travel from one point to another. These had to be set up at set points and couldn't be moved. This was how the Black Adepts managed to hunt demon mages across the land. What I was developing was what I liked to call the Marks. The `Nameless language' has a written language which looked like a bunch of straight lines put at odd angles to each with an occasional dot stuck among the mix, it looked like gibberish. When casting a spell we often would write these symbols in the air as part of the spell. The Marks I thought at the time would allow you to put a spell directly onto any surface basically instant enchantment. Even though in later years I found much darker uses for the Marks ones that made me question my own morality and even sanity sometimes. After five years of training was almost a master in my own right if just lacking experience and practical knowledge. I came to almost love Void magic, there was a peace and calmness to it not fond in regular magic. My eyes were now completely black and I looked like I was barely twenty my age now frozen. Then the day when once again my life would be thrown on its head. I had grown fond of Dalenti, she was like a strict and slightly domineering mother to me. She pushed me hard and often expected more then I could give. One day she called me to her study and told me something I should have expected but never prepared myself for. "Your training is almost complete today I have come up with your final test. I have located a mediocre demon mage, you shouldn't have too much trouble with him but I will be nearby if there are any complications." It took me a few seconds before I realized what she was telling me. I had to kill somebody. She gave me a minute before saying, "Are you ready?" "Yes master." So the hunt was on. Both shrouded in the black robes of a Void mage. We found him outside a small village about twenty miles away from the Academy. He was fairly young, twenty five or six and would have been handsome if it wasn't for the expression of malice and hate on his face. He was hunting two children for sport. I couldn't believe anybody could be so cruel. I knew that a demon mage would sometimes give into the desires of the demon they were bonded with but this was sick. I looked at Dalenti and she nodded, an expression of rage of her face. That was all I needed I moved towards him silently and cloaking myself with the Void to avoid detected. As soon I was close enough and I knew I wouldn't hurt either of the children I struck. He staggered but had been shielding naturally. He was more powerful than Dalenti had led me to believe. The battle was hard but he tired quicker and soon I had him disabled. The Black Adept traditionally drains the last of the life force out of the defeated mage to replenish their own stores. Which I was about to do until I had an inspiration. I opened his shirt and started drawing the Marks on his chest and imprinting them on his very soul. The spell I had made would slay the owner of the soul while transferring the remaining life force out of his to me. When I activated the spell even I wasn't ready for what happened. I received his energies and he died that part went fine but then his soul went to his bonded demon. His already lifeless body suddenly screamed, not the scream of a man but of a demon. When the soul went to the demon it received the Mark and was destroyed as well. Its bond to a human being a weakness it could be struck through. Few demons had ever been killed since they were safe in their realm and few would enter ours where they could be threatened. I was stunned at the realization of what I had done and more terrifying what I could do with the Marks running through my head. Up to that point I had only used them on inanimate objects and never thought of using them on a person. I didn't notice Dalenti come up behind me until she put a hand on my shoulder. Her face a mix of emotions from disbelief to pride. "You are now the Black Adept." was all she said to me. This shook me from my stupor as understanding dawned. Another aspect of the Black Adept is that there is only one at a time. When an apprentice is trained the master passes into the Void and receives their reward of peace eternal. Most Void mages only live to be around three hundred before they tire of life but she much older. While the body doesn't age the mind still grows old and tired. She had only waited this long so she could find an apprentice capable of taking over. Someone truly in tune with the Void is rare, add to that that they must have a strong enough potential, and a strong moral code makes that search even harder. It was their she taught me the last great magic of the Void the Spell of Passing. It was the skill created by the first Black Adept of the third Academy and the true secret of the Black Adept's strength. As the master passes into the Void they release their energy and potential and it passes to their apprentice. They would then pass the combined potential on to their apprentice and on and on. In theory the Black Adepts could eventually guarantee the safety of the Academy. Not just hiding and striking weak and weakened demon mages and running to safety but hunting their leaders. As Dalenti performed the Spell of Passing she literally faded into nothingness and I received the combined powers of her and her six predecessors. I was the Black Adept and I would carry on their fight. It was then that I had my next inspiration for the use of the Marks one that might allow the Black Adept to go on the offensive sooner then anyone could expect. My life since the day I became the Black Adept has been hard and with few rewards. I haven't just spent the last two hundred and seventy some years sitting in a room studying or hunting demon mages. If that was all their was to a Black Adept's life I would have gone crazy long ago. Black Adepts walked among the people looked for information about demon mages, politics, and sometimes just plain gossip. A simply illusion could make my eyes look normal to the casual observer so people never guessed a thing. I even made up identities to be over the years to put me in position to get information. Often I connected myself to the Thieves Guild since I knew the skills and who would know more secrets then thieves. After a few years I would kill my identity off before anyone got suspicious about the not aging thing. Then I would start anew, Sometimes in a different city or sometimes the same with an altered appearance. I always choose jobs that it would be suspicious if I was hard to find or disappeared for few days. I was still the Black Adept and had to study or hunt my enemies. Over the years I had friends and even boyfriends but I always held back some afraid of revealing too much of myself. My heart was broken a few times sometimes by betrayal or tragedy. More often it was as I killed off an identity having to leave behind those I knew, I probably broke a few hearts myself. None of those relationships seemed right there was none of the trust and honesty I had with Jayden but that was my fault. While I enjoyed interacting with others my true comfort became the Void. It was in the years following Dalenti's death that I came to understand the desire of Void mages to kill their physical shell and seek release in the Void. ****************** Any way enough reminiscing I been standing on the central tower freezing my ass off too long I have work to do. I still was sad to be up here remembering all the times that Jayden and I came up here. Saddest of all is now the memory seems more distant then ever. No one ever really uses this tower since on all but the hottest days the wind makes it chilly if not cold. I didn't fear someone catching since I was virtually invisible to anyone without an active searching spell active. I returned to my workshop to prepare for the coming battle and prayed that my powers were enough. I haven't seen anyone who seems like a potential apprentice. My current identity is a thief named Kalsin I didn`t change my appearance much just cut my hair short. I have developed a reputation both as a thief and a skilled knife fighter. I managed to work myself close to some influential members of the local thieves guild. It was actually them who found the demon mage I am preparing to fight. The thieves of Hiron a city about a hundred miles north of the Academy noticed a string of killings outside the city. Word traveled until it reached Sendi the local crime boss I, as Kalsin, work for. I recognized it for what it was a demon hunting for life energy. A cursory probe with magic let me know that this is the most powerful demon mage I've found yet. She is probably bonded to one of the six higher types of demons. Some demon mages seem to be somewhat united in a weak grouping. The strongest ones keeps those directly below them under control. This group controls those weaker then them and so on. This means that the majority of the strongest mages' time is spent on keeping the coalition together. The fact that they are finally sending one of their more powerful mages mean one of two things. First they are tired of their underlings being defeated and are trying to find the cause. The second option is that this organization of demon mages are becoming more stable and they can afford to send the more powerful mages out. Demon mages used to be quite rare in the realm thanks to the Academy's war against them so long ago. These mages seem to be coming from somewhere out of the realm. They speak a language I am not familiar with and have a much paler complexion. One used to appear maybe every thirty or forty years which wasn't home grown. In the last two hundred years they have started appearing with more frequency. Now I find one every year or two. I take the portal that takes me to the basement of a now prosperous clothing shop in Hiron. The shop belongs to a woman named Filtsa and it has been in her family for hundreds of years. Her family swore fealty to Dalenti after she had saved the young woman who founded this very store. Ever since her descendents have taken that oath as well. Now there are many agents of the Black Adept all across the realm. I go out to great Filtsa, wearing normal clothes, and she tells me where all the attacks have happened. With a general idea where the mage is stalking I go to chose my ground and prepare it for a battle the likes haven't been seen in the realm in over a thousand years. To be continued This is my first attempt at a story and I hope that you like if you have any positive feedback I would love to here it. Send me some feed back on whether this story has the potential that I should continue it. You can email me at BlackAdept@Hotmail.com