Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 17:43:12 -0300
From: Matthew Amos <stu363@nb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Black Adept 4

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 it. If you
have any positive feedback I would love to hear 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

I would like to give special thanks to Bobby who is editing my work for me.

First I would like to apologize for taking so long to get this chapter
done. I had a lot of work to do last week and still quite a bit this week
and just couldn't seem to motivate myself to sit down and finish.

Secondly I want to point out that this chapter is a little different then
the other chapters. So far you have only seen the world through the eyes of
the main character. In this chapter I will show you many other people who
are important in the realm or the future of the story and how they see the
world. I will probably do a chapter like this every little bit just to give
you a wider perspective on this little world I created.

Also in this chapter I reintroduce the name Aubrey again which appeared in
the first chapter I wrote as High Lord Kinsin Aubrey and Jasrin Aubrey.
While these characters are dead their descendants will play a role in this
story. You might want to reacquaint yourselves with the history around them
if you have forgotten them.

The Black Adept

Chapter 3: First interlude

By Matt

This land is known Ariktos even though most who live here simply call it
the realm. It used to be made up of eight kingdom who fought bitterly and
constantly against each other. Every kingdom had its own magic schools and
their mages were loyal to the king (or the king loyal to the mages in some
cases). That was until a demon mage made a play for power and tried to
subject the kings to his will. He only managed to unite the kingdoms and
their mages against him. After he was defeated, the mages, realizing the
risk of black magic united, and formed the first Academy. From here you
know the history of the Academy but not the world around.

The eight kingdoms suddenly deprived of their mages formed a weak
alliance. As history went on, the alliance broke and reformed several times
before a lasting peace settled. About eight hundred years before the
present day Ariktos, in which the story takes place, they united. The
Council was born and all kings became the High Lords of the Council, one
for each of the eight original kingdoms, now called provinces. The High
Lord still ruled in his province but now all important decisions had to be
brought up in the Council. If there was a tie, then the head of the Academy
was given a vote to break it. The provinces of Ariktos were Fasner, Kulnem,
Tarestan, Repask, Sul, Nolundria, Zalti, and finally Aubrey. The city Molas
grew around the Academy and since the Academy was roughly in the center of
Ariktos it became the Council city.

There is far more to the world then Ariktos many rich and exotic lands and
great empires. They wanted little to do with the primitive back water of
Ariktos. Ariktos was a very large island separated from the rest of the
world but not unknown. There was little of worth in luxury and tradable
goods native to Ariktos, so few traders risked the voyage to trade. A few
have gotten wealthy supplying the nobility with the trappings of wealth but
otherwise there was no reason to visit. It also became quite the haven for
those who are fleeing someone since, if you can get there it is not likely
someone will follow you. The only thing that gave Ariktos any prestige was
the Academy truly the largest body of mages united in the known world.

Mages have a natural tendency to try and gain influence and power, making
it rare to see large groups of mages unite and work together
successfully. The Academy was run by the Lord Adept, the most skilled and
capable mage living. After the Lord Adept came the adept mages, a title few
mages ever reached, who were responsible for assisting the Lord Adept in
the running of the Academy. Next came the arch mages, then master mages who
did most of the teaching at the Acedemy. Students at the Academy started as
initiates until they could tap their natural power and control it. Then
they became fifth rank novices who progressed through to first rank and
were then eligible to become a master if they proved their skill. The
transition from initiate to master usually took ten to twelve years of
study but has been done quicker or has taken longer.

				**********

Lord Adept Terit Aubrey brother of High Lord Saljin of Aubrey was
exhausted. He didn't know what was going on and, in the last three days,
had barely had more than four hours of sleep. It all started with the
energy burst that happened three days ago near Hiron. He had sent a team to
investigate which should be returning soon with their findings. He almost
feared the answer as to what caused it. He was a hundred and fifty two
years old and had never felt a burst of power so great in his life. It
seemed like every mage and person with potential felt it for over a hundred
miles. If that wasn't bad enough, some of the people who felt it recognized
what it was and came to the conclusion they had potential. This led to a
flood of people suddenly arriving at the gates of the Academy wishing to
learn magic. The Academy was built for a much larger population than it
ever had and now looked like it might, for the first time in history, fill
up. How he was going to have this many new students trained, he didn't know
but he knew he had better figure out soon.

Many of the mages from noble families were outraged at the acceptance of so
many peasants, but not Terit. His grandfather Jasrin had taught him the
importance of respecting everyone, no matter their station or who they
were. Jasrin told the story of what happened when he was a student and how
he always felt responsible for the death of one of his fellow
students. Jasrin wished they had punished him instead of saying it was an
accident since he never felt he had made amends. Jasrin had also felt bad
for the disappearance of the boy's lover who was never seen again after
that night. He tried to teach the same lessons to his children who
hopefully taught it to his grandchildren. At that thought Terit scanned the
courtyard from his window to see if spotted his two grandsons causing
mischief somewhere. He didn't see them but he did notice the commotion of
the investigating team returning from the north. He guessed he would get
his answers whether he wanted them or not.

				 *********

Kinren Aubrey was watching the grim faced team return from the window of
the north residence. He knew that something serious was going on ever since
that thing happened in the north all the higher mages were jumpy and
nervous. Also the fact that they sent forty mages to investigate it, many
of them expert battle mages, suggested it was really serious. He turned to
look for his brother and couldn't see him anywhere.

"Kai, get over here. The investigation team is back and they don't look
happy." he yelled only to hear a laugh beside him as his younger brother
removed his invisibility spell. "You jerk! Stop fooling around! It is the
perfect opportunity to check out that secret tunnel we found the other
night. Everybody will be busy waiting to see what the investigators say
after they meet grandpa. We should be able to sneak in no problem."

That statement caused a frown across Kai's face. They had gotten in trouble
too much recently and some of the instructors were beginning to get a
little pissed at them. Kinren knew that, but loved a little adventure.

At twenty three Kinren was a little childish but that seemed to his
benefit, since most thought it sort of charming. He used his good looks and
charm to keep himself out of most trouble. He had ear-length, wavy, light
brown hair that framed his face, and eyes that you could never tell whether
they were green or blue. He had a good body and he knew it. He was training
to be a Varshar, a mage who used might to enhance their senses, speed and
strength in the martial arts and combat skills. He knew, while he didn't
have the potential to be any more than a mediocre mage, he could still be a
great Varshar. He was well liked and the girls loved him and his good looks
and he loved them back every chance he got. His brother was a different
story though. Kinren had his suspicions but didn't want to be nosy so left
him alone.

Kai Aubrey was twenty one and, in looks, was just like his brother - except
for a few things. First was that his hair always seemed to get in his face,
a trait which a lot of girls though was cute causing his brother to blush
and look away. He was a little shorter but not much and of a slighter
build. He didn't have to go through the rigors of Varshar training so his
muscles were not as well developed as Kinren's. Unlike Kinren, Kai had the
potential to be a great mage - unlike anything the Academy has seen in
centuries. He was a star student and was already, after only eight years,
ready to be tested for master. That was another reason he was weary about
getting in trouble, fearing it could set him back. Kai had never had a
serious relationship and always had excuses, blaming his studies, but
Kinren knew their was more to it.

The secret tunnel they had found was located near the restricted library
and was quite an oddity. First, it operated on magic but required a
physical trigger. Kai had guessed that that was because a magic trigger
would be too easy to detect. It was impossible to find any trace of magic
on it so I guess you would have to know exactly what you are looking for to
detect it. Second, it would be virtually impossible for anyone to open the
door since its switches are almost two meters apart and don't seem to
respond to magic pushes. Last, it looks like it is not used very much since
there was dust but not too much.

Kai and Kinren had found it about a week ago when they were in the
forbidden library late at night or early in the morning, in the area where
they kept the more advanced magic books and stuff that students shouldn't
try. The two broke in because of Kinren's need for some adventure and Kai's
love of knowledge. They were there for maybe two hours when they heard
someone come in. They panicked and bolted down the hallway out of there
until they realized that no one was chasing them. They collapsed against
the walls across from each other in the hallway. Next thing they knew, a
piece of the wall just disappeared beside Kinren. They just backed away and
the wall returned to normal, completely solid with no trace of magic.

It took an hour of reenacting leaning against the wall again and again
before they got it to happen again and another hour to locate the exact
switches, which were nothing more than slight discolorations in the
stone. They were not brave enough to explore it then especially since they
had maybe two hours left until classes started and would be tired enough as
was. Then that thing happened to the north and all the mages started acting
funny and they couldn't move without someone looking over our
shoulder. This, however, was the perfect opportunity. Kinren looked to see
if Kai looked like he would follow and then took off towards the forbidden
library. Kai followed dutifully, if not quite as eagerly.

				 ********

Lord Adept Aubrey received Adept Falhom the leader of investigation team
into his private meeting room and couldn't help but notice the grim
face. "I take it the results aren't good." He stated to his old friend.

"Well it could be worse, but I don't quite understand what we found
myself. When we got there people were already looking through the area,
meaning some evidence was destroyed and some rendered almost
worthless. What we did find was not that positive." He looked nervous and a
little scared as he said, "It was a battle between only two mages."

The Lord Adept's chin had dropped at the idea that two mages could have
created so much energy. "Are you sure? How do you know it was only two and
is their any evidence of who they were?"

"The were two distinct energy fields present at the site. I never
encountered ones like it before but I believe they were from a demon mage
and a void mage. There is further evidence that one was a demon mage. The
Hiron guard were investigating a series of brutal murders outside the city
that sound like what I have read of demon mages. There were also what
appears to have been two circles drawn on the ground, a larger and smaller
one, but much of them were destroyed by people before we got there.

"We found a few unrecognizable symbols on the ground. I tried to write them
down but for some reason, I could never get them quite right. Strange since
they were just lines and dots. My guess is the battleground was a trap set
well in advance and it was for the demon mage. If it was a void mage, I
don't know what to make out of it since I never read anything mentioning a
written language. The guards reported that there was a skeleton in the
large circle but it seems to turn dust within a day. That is really the
strongest evidence of void magic we have since they are reported to drain
all the energy out of their opponents. That would leave nothing left to
even hold together the bones. That means if I am right the void mage won.

"We questioned the locals which got us mainly reports of noises and
flashing lights in the area of the battleground and one report a young man
not showing up for work at a farm near the city. I doubt it could be
related unless he was the last victim of the demon mage before the battle
or maybe even the void mage gathering energy for the battle."

"Is there any good news?" the Lord Adept asked hopefully.

"Only if you consider the fight that they were fighting each other."

"I am glad of that much at least.  I fear dark times ahead for the
Academy."

				  *******

Lolin was a wreck. She didn't tell her father about she witnessed or even
about Korin, if that is even his real name, which she doubted, leaving.
When the mages showed up to question her father she was sure they were
going to take her away for knowing a void mage. They left without incident
but her thoughts stayed. She always thought a void mage would be evil - not
kind, quiet, young, and cute. He did protect her from the demon mage
though, and she even found herself sort of missing him. Further thought was
interrupted by her father calling her to the family room. When she got
there her mother and father were both there both had sad expressions on
their faces.

"We decided that it is time you go to a private school somewhere safe. You
are not meant for running a farm but something much greater, so I contacted
your aunt in Molas and she will take you in and you can go to one of the
good schools there and figure out what you want in life. Also we want to
know you are safe and where could be safer then the Council city in the
shadow of the Academy."

 She broke down crying and hugged her parents tightly. She had always
pushed them to let her go to a school in Hiron but they wanted her to learn
to run the farm and home schooled her. Now they were sending her to the
best city in the realm for schools. She was almost twenty two it was time
she do something with her life and prepare for the future.

				 *********

In an old abandoned tool shed near the back of the Academy grounds three
novices stood chanting in a circle. They all had great potential and were
intelligent but also ambitious and impatient. They wanted power now and
they finally thought they found a way to get it. They didn't realize how
wrong they were and never would in their last few minutes of life.

To be continued...

Next Chapter is called "Things that go Bump in the Night"

This is my first attempt at a story and I hope that you like if you have
any positive feedback I would love to hear 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