The Adventures of the Peculiar Enchanter: Paths to Redemption

The Adventures of the Peculiar Enchanter

Paths to Redemption

 

                Wiz Ardon was wandering in the wilderness. He had been doing so for a while. He didn’t eat, didn’t drink, didn’t sleep, didn’t do anything but walk forward. How did he survive? It probably was his powerful magic protecting him somehow. He was oblivious to the world around him.

                Of course, one could argue that if someone wandered around for so long day and night he would probably be wandering in the same places all the time, being confined in the same small chunk of Crux. However, we shouldn’t forget that Wiz was magical. He would often randomly teleport to other places. He himself didn’t know why –he wasn’t thinking much what he was doing anyway–, but he did not want to stay in the same place for long.

                Thus, people didn’t really notice him much. Even so, rumours about him had started spreading through the Crux System after all these months. He had often been sighted by now and he even had walked into populated places some times, still not noticing anything around him. He was a very odd sight. He was almost driven off by cars once or twice. With his much torn wizard clothes and his usual disappearing and appearing in other places, many people seemed to think he was the ghost of a Sorcerer.

                During his wandering, Wiz had also often stumbled upon these newly-appeared creatures infected by the chaotic force called Maelstrom. However, not realising it he always vanquished them easily before they even harmed him. In his oblivion, he seemed to have formed some sort of shield of invincibility around him. In his state that seemed peculiar, however, it seemed that Wiz still wanted to live and so his magic protected him.

                And what had brought Wiz Ardon to this state? He used to be a much promising young enchanter. What had caused him to become like this? It was the great loss he had gone through. Geidrich the Azure had been smashed and that was what Wiz could not accept, what he couldn’t handle. Geidrich was something more than a teacher to Wiz. He was like a father to him, his model. Now, Wiz felt like he had lost his world and he was unable to handle it, so he had retreated to his shell and only existed internally. Outside, he was as dead as the rumours had him.

                There were also other feelings. The guilt of the survivor and the guilt of not being able to save his master. Meanwhile, he couldn’t face his parents, whom he believed to have failed. Finally, with Geidrich his only chance of becoming an actual enchanter had died, too. He couldn’t picture himself as anything else. Yet, magic had failed him, so at the same time, he did not trust it anymore.

                In order to avoid facing this very confusing mess, Wiz had instead chosen to stop thinking. Well, as much as he could.

 

                                                                                ~ ~ ~***---***~ ~ ~

 

                In the meantime, Wiz Ardon had lost the latest developments. Maelstrom had finally shown the aggression some people had been prepared for. They had claimed war upon minifigurekind, wishing to destroy the Universe. However, Geidrich had not been the only one to predict destruction. Four minifigures, claiming to have been involved in the events that led to the Corruption of the Nexus and the explosion of Crux, had founded an organisation to save Imagination and the Universe.

                It was the Nexus Force. It had struggled at the beginning, but it had become much more famous after taking part in the first battle against Maelstrom and defeating it. Now, more and more people were joining it and it had become a sort of a fashion.

                Currently, the Nexus Force was trying to ensure its presence in the Nimbus System, but so did the Maelstrom. There were many battles over the control of worlds. Nothing was certain, yet.

                But Wiz could not know any of these. So, he remained ignorant. However, one day he was forced into reality.

                He was wandering through a forest in his usual manner. He did not notice it, when he got out of the forest in some open area of green grass. And he did not notice where he was walking to. Thus, he was surprised when he felt himself entering a portal. The surprise was enough to wake something inside him.

                He had just realised what was happening when he fell to his knees. He was out of the portal, but where had the portal taken him? It had not been of his devices. He looked around, but did not find the portal out of which he’d come from. Instead he found a minifigure fallen to the ground. He seemed injured. Immediately, he forgot everything else and ran to the minifigure for help.

                It was a bald man, perhaps in his forties. He was wearing a simple red shirt and blue trousers. He had a wound on his leg and one in his waist. They seemed nasty and the purple aura in them indicated Maelstrom origin.

                He touched the man in order to pick him up and carry him and he opened his eyes.

                “Behind you!” he warned.

                Wiz molt into a shadow and the Stromling Invader that was charging at him passed over him confused. Then, as it turned, Wiz rematerialised and hit the creature with a sword which had come out of nowhere. Perhaps, the man, though, in his state did not notice that. The pieces of the Stromling fell to the ground. Wiz nailed his sword on the ground and looked at the fallen man.

                “What’s your name?” the man asked weakly.

                “Strange…”  Wiz said as he looked around with a confused, yet curious look. He was actually talking about a strange feeling he was getting, as well as the fact that he seemed to be in the same place as before entering the portal, yet not exactly. There were some differences, like the forest seeming to have burnt and the lack of any other vegetation.

                “Strange?” he found it a little bit… strange.

                “N-, yes! Err! Actually, Strange… Odd… Shadow!” Wiz made it up thinking of his recent trick; the three-word nickname had come naturally to his mind, because he’d heard them being used by Nexus-Forcers during his sleepwalker state. Some things his brain seemed to have picked up.

                “How did you do that?” the man asked.

                “How did I do what?”

                “That shadow thing! You became a shadow!” the man exclaimed.

                “You must be having delusions! You’ve been injured! What’s your name?” Wiz sat at the side of him and started tending his wound as he could, but with no magic.

                “I’m Bob! But I’m pretty sure I saw you turn into a shadow!”

                “You’re injured! I was running! I don’t blame you for getting confused! But what would you think? That I’m magical? These things don’t happen, Bob!”

                “I suppose you’re right! But many things are possible with the use of Imagination!”

                “What do you mean?” Wiz asked not realising he meant the Imagination.

                “You know! Imagination! The light blue substance that allows you to build things!”

                “Oh! That Imagination!” Wiz had used Imagination for magic in the past and had studied it in books, but he had never really seen it; for a long time before the Nexus reappeared (and was corrupted) Imagination did not appear in large quantities “It’s not often that you find someone who’s familiar with it!”

                “What are you talking about? This is the 41^st century! Everyone knows about Imagination! Especially, those associated with the Nexus Force”

                “Nexus Force? What is this?”

                “You don’t know about the Nexus Force? Well, fellow you’re really badly informed! Are you from the Outer Ring?”

                “Yes!” Wiz decided not to argue, so as not to raise suspicion.

                “Well, Nexus Force is an organisation meant to fight Maelstrom and defend Imagination and the Universe! I was on a mission for it, actually, when I was ambushed by Maelstromlings!”

                “Interesting! And where is the Force’s base?”

                “Nexus Tower on Crux Prime! But we are generally spread in the Nimbus System!”

                “Would you mind if I came with you? I’d like to see that place!”

                “Well, in my state, I was going to ask you to carry me there anyway!”

                “I suppose I shall have to do it! I’m done with your wound, though I think someone better at medicine should see it! How far is it? Will we have to fly to another chunk?”

                “We are on Crux Prime, in some mountains of it! If you look this way, you’ll see a cyan beam. That’s where the Tower is and that’s the beam rising from the Last Shard of the Imagination Nexus!”

                “Interesting! Well, let me lift you!”

                Wiz lifted Bob with great effort. He wasn’t exactly a fit person. As he placed him on his back and his knees started shaking, he secretly made a spell to make him lighter for him.

                “Well, let’s go, Bob!”

                He started walking towards the beam in the sky. The trek was long and tiring. He often had to change direction when he found himself in front of cliffs, crevices and ledges. Meanwhile, he also had to avoid Maelstrom Beings, which were abundant in the area. He would not be able to fight them if they found them, not without magic at least.

                Yet, somehow Wiz made it down the mountain alive and with Bob on his shoulders. At that point, he sat to rest and placed the man next to him. The Nexus Tower had appeared in his vision long ago, but now he was able to take into the view of the whole land stretching between them and the Tower. He could see there were Maelstrom Beings and minifigures on it fighting each other for the control of the area. Wiz thought that it seemed like a battle that was going to last long. He just hoped that in the end the minifigures wouldn’t be the ones wiped out of the face of the world.

                “Bob. You don’t have any way to communicate with your people, do you?”

                “My comm. has malfunctioned. Otherwise I would have already!”

                “I thought so! But I don’t think we’d be able to go through the battlefield on our own. Do you have anything we could use to make a signal? Something like a flare or something that could be turned into one?”

                “Well, I’ve got this gun that can fire a pretty bright projectile, but I don’t think it can go high enough” Bob grimaced as he tried to sit more comfortably.

                “Let me see that! Maybe, I’ll be able to work on it!”

                Bob put his hand inside his backpack and it reemerged holding a gun of some sort. Someone familiar with Nexus Force technology would see it was similar to a daredevil’s flaregun, but not the same thing.

                Wiz took it from Bob’s offering hand and started studying and working on it. He turned his back on Bob, so he couldn’t see what he was doing. He didn’t want to use much magic, but since it was necessary, he could use it for one last time; especially since magic got him in this mess.

                “Look out!” Bob shouted suddenly a few minutes later.

                A Stromling Pirate Invader had located them and was approaching them as fast as it could in order to smash them. Before he could think of it, Wiz fired the gun twice on the Pirate knocking it down. It was not smashed, but, with its chest lit up by the shots, it didn’t get up again. Wiz gave the last strike with his sword, just to be sure.

                “That was a close one! Thank you!”

                “Anytime!” Bob laughed.

                Then, Wiz continued his work. He was over soon.

                “I think I’m ready! Let’s try this!” and he pointed the gun towards the sky.

                Wiz pulled the trigger and a flare of some sort was fired in the air. It flew high, leaving a trail of smoke behind, and when it reached the highest point of its orbit, it shone even brighter.

                “And now we wait!” Wiz said.

                “And we hope!”

                Wiz sat next to Bob.

                “So, what did you do to the gun?”

                “Oh, nothing much!”

                “Well, since it seems like we’re going to be here for a while, Shadow –shall I call you that?–” Wiz nodded “why don’t you tell me your story?”

                “My story?!”

                “Yes, how did a guy from the Outer Ring end up in the centre of everything without even ever hearing the words Nexus Force?”

                “Well, frankly, I’m not too sure myself! There was this portal of a sort and I accidentally entered it and ended up where you found me -well, actually, where I found you!”

                Wiz couldn’t make up a story in such a short time and he thought he had to give some information to avoid suspicion. But that information could be the minimum.

                “How odd! And how lucky!”

                “Indeed! So, Bob! Tell me about the Nexus Force! What is it like?”

                As Bob spoke about this organisation: its founders and their story, what the Nexus Force had done since it was founded, the way life was inside it, Wiz liked it more and more. During Bob’s narration, he also learnt the story of the Imagination Nexus Corruption. He wondered about Baron Typhonus. What had led him to that decision that brought about so much destruction and pain?

                “All of this is quite interesting! Maybe, I’ll even join!” Wiz commented as he lay a blanket he found in Bob’s backpack on them; it was getting colder.

                “Glad to hear that! I’m sure you’ll like this!”

                “You said you were on a mission for the Nexus Force on that mountain! Can I ask what mission that was?”

                “Well, it’s supposed to be classified, but after all you’ve done, I think I can tell you! You’re practically become a member of the mission now! I was sent for investigation. It was said that the mountain hid a sign that would give us information on the 10 heroes!”

                Wiz looked at Bob curiously “10 heroes?”

                “Of course! What am I talking about? You don’t know what the 10 heroes are? Recently, a girl appeared and they say she made a prophecy of a sort. I generally don’t believe in these things, but if Mardolf is persuaded, then that’s enough for me! Anyway, the prophecy says that 10 heroes will rise and turn the tides of this war. Ever since, there have been some of us –some of the leaders, too– who want to find those 10 heroes!”

                “So, did you have any luck in your mission?”

                “No! Nothing! There was… Wait! Are you hearing something?”

                “Yes! There’s this sound!”

                “It’s coming from above! It sounds like a chopper!”

                “Look! There it is!”

                Wiz in the little experience his medieval world could offer, had heard of guns, but for the first time witnessed something like the Nexus Talon Dropship. And he was amazed.

                The next moments, Wiz never remembered very clearly. They were put inside the dropship and the dropship took off. The rescue team took care of them, while the pilot made sure to dodge the hostile projectiles sent towards them.

                Soon, they reached the Tower. Once they were there, they were first led to the central room, where you could see the beam of the Last Shard of the Imagination Nexus. And once Wiz saw it, he was sure. He would leave the world of magic behind. He would join the Nexus Force. He would become Strange Odd Shadow. . .