A Quest of Power Prologue

A Mission of Secrets

         It was a cool night in the middle of a hot summer, the moon was shining bright overhead with the frogs and crickets throughout the surrounding forest making just enough noise to create a peaceful theater of nature at it’s finest.
         Professor Arnold Mouser was calmly walking to what could possibly turn out to be his death sentence. Arnold appeared to be perhaps 25 years old; however, looks can be deceiving and with wizards, what you see is the last thing you should believe. In fact Arnold was no less then 100 years old, perhaps even a little more, and almost powerful enough to be immortal. Tall and considered very good looking, at least by all the ladies throughout the years, he was the perfect image of the lonesome wizard seeking the company of friends, family, and any woman willing to fall pray to his charms.
         With wizards, the more powerful you are, the longer you live, naturally anyway, although few wizards as powerful as Arnold have ever died of old age throughout years since the first of his kind. Arnold would live to be several hundred years old assuming everything went according to his plans. Those plans were very modest and some-what flimsy. They consisted of him simply not getting himself killed before he died in bed with a pretty girl keeping him warm.
         So far he had succeeded and a job as one of the professors at the Wizard’s Hold wasn’t exactly dangerous, at least most of the time it wasn’t.
         Tonight was one of the few times it was, this was one of those days Arnold wished he had stayed in the woods, studying all the different insects. He was personally accredited with the discovery of over 25 different species’. Intriguing work, but it does get boring after thirty or forty years.
         “Bloody hell, remind me again why we’re out here.” Arnold asked his good friend Jacob Kidding whom he’d met about 50 years earlier while in the woods studying a new type of centipede that turned out to be the same old kind after all. He just realized the truth about the insect when he felt the Wizards Pull that led him to Jacob’s little house in the woods. Arnold wasn’t nearly as caught up in being a wizard as Jacob; but then again Arnold was a good 25 years older and looked to be a good 25 years younger, he was quite a bit more powerful then his friend. Jacob had to put his time to good use, Arnold guessed that was the way with most people, all in a hurry to die.
         “Because we have to,” came the reply that Arnold knew would be waiting to come out of his friend’s mouth.
         Staying alive didn’t come nearly so easy when suddenly there were things you had to do. But this was important and Arnold knew it, this was about the boy, and so it had to be done.
         Once they arrived at the little cabin that belonged to Jacob, the two friends went inside to await for their visitor. The cabin was small and cozy with just enough room for two people to live in comfortably. Arnold had spent years at a time at that cabin throughout the past fifty years. The path through the surrounding forest hid the cabin from sight until the traveler came around the last turn and straight onto the step-stone walk that led to the door. A tall chimney of multiple colored rocks comprised a patchwork of delightful designs.
         Once inside the cabin Jacob lit a fire with a twist of his wrist and a murmured, “A halo falde.” Flames flew from the end of his hand, straight into the empty fireplace where they stayed and burnt contently despite the lack of firewood. This was good, Arnold hated unruly flames.
         An hour went by in silence; neither wizard willing to let slip a word for fear of the tremble that might in the process escape their parted lips. These were very exciting times, and dangerous.
         Just as Arnold was beginning to relax by the now blazing fire that had heated the cabin quite nicely, dreaming pleasant thoughts of the old man not coming, he felt the Wizard’s Pull followed close behind by a noise outside and he knew the waiting was over. And the daydreaming.
         The door swung open on it’s own and the old man, Geopalt Namfrey strolled in as if he’d done so a million times before instead of a mere hand full. Namfrey had to duck his entire head in order to make it through the door. A good head and shoulders taller then Arnold and dressed in solid black, the old man seemed to blend into the night shadows he was leaving behind in order to come into the light of the cabin’s fire.
         Besides the tallest person Arnold had ever seen he was also the oldest and among the cleverest and wisest of the wizards. Geopalt was one of the few wizards that had managed to survive for over 200 years and he had an unparalleled Gift of Grace. Hands that consisted of bone with a thin layer of skin covering them were wrinkled beyond possibility. Hands that reached out of the robe that seemed to absorb the light and shut the door behind the giant old man.
         “Well?” Was the only word he said in a deep, tired voice as he motioned for Arnold to get out of the seat so he could be replaced by the older, wiser, and over all more respected Geopalt.
         Complying with the old man’s wishes Arnold got up quickly and moved to the little wooden table that still had one empty chair opposite Jacob. Several of the wizards at the keep claimed Geopalt was very strict with anyone he sees as disrespectful, Arnold didn’t want to know what strict included coming from this fierce looking old man. Geopalt remained standing.
         At the same time that Arnold sat down Jacob answered the question with a simple, “We found him.”
         “I meant are you going to offer me a spot of tea but I can tell I have to get it myself.” At the sound of a snap from two bony fingers the robe removed itself to reveal another layer of black clothes beneath it, although this set didn’t include that unnatural absorption of light. Geopalt’s face matched his hands and a white beard reached to his waist, he gave a wave of his hand and barely moved his lips in an inaudible whisper and the robe flew across the room and hung itself on a hook next to the door. Arnold was positive now that the robe was enchanted to absorb light, he figgured it would allow the wearer to walk at night with even less possibility of being seen, it just soaked it in like, well… magic or a sponge, a magic sponge.
         Geopalt got up with a sigh and took the iron teakettle that was heating over the fire. Arnold jumped up in shock when he saw Geopalt grab the boiling kettle’s iron handle with his bare hands but settled back down when the old man turned to look at him with a smile dancing in his eye that said, “Got ya.”
         “So,” he said as he poured his tea, “You’ve found him. Let me see if I remember the line, ah, yes, ‘Born to an impotent couple in an impotent family from an impotent race of man and trained by those of pure magic. He will know nothing and in his ignorance save the world from itself. The powers of both men and magic shall rage through him. Two shall become one in the light that follows in his wake. Light that will teach the teachers, burn those that burn, and blind the blind. For by his side walks truth and together they shall save all that they destroy.’”
         There were several different prophecies about the boy, or as he is called in the prophecies, the Hashna. Arnold had read most of them in the libraries over the years he had spent at that Wizard’s Hold, some were exciting, some were uplifting, a few were even inspiring, but the large majority had been gloomy, depressing, and overall rather frightening. The one Geopalt just quoted was one of the best known of the prophecies, given by Hagel Unlin, the first to give a prophecy about the boy who shall save the world and destroy it, whatever that’s supposed to mean.
         Impotent could mean several things but to a wizard it means the total lack of magic. This particular prophecy wasn’t one of the more frightening but it certainally wasn’t the kind of thing Arnold wanted to happen within his lifetime. He still had his ever so flimsy plan.
         “Yes, that’s one of the prophecies. The council wants to know what approach you suggest?” Commented Arnold. The council took the advice of Geopalt very seriously and rarely made a decision without fist getting his ‘suggestion.’ Mostly the council went with those ‘suggestions.’ In this case Arnold was just hoping that the suggestion didn’t involve him and Jacob finding the boy.
         Taking a sip of his tea, Geopalt answered the question, “I would suggest a little goat’s milk for this tea. If you mean the boy, well I would suggest minding our own business. But, on the other hand I don’t recall once in my lifetime when we wizards minded our own business, I don’t suppose we’ll start now. Be that the case I would suggest we send one man to find him, the problem is that he can’t be a wizard, the capital is well tuned to any wizard that tries to enter Ja’Macco. I am going to assume the boy is in Ja’Macco?”
         The Free Nation of Ja’Macco was a country to the East, no wizard blood existed in the country and for the most part, no magic. Since the Great War Ja’Macco had been very paranoid about anything that has to do with magic and most especially wizards. They came by an enchanted disk during the Great War that somehow points out any wizard even close to the city in which it’s housed. The wall that guards the border of Ja’Macco from any outside wizards also acts as a type of interference that doesn’t allow the disk to track the movement of wizards on the West side of the wall.
         “Yes, he’s in Ja’Macco,” said Jacob after letting out a slight breath that he didn't realize he had been holding upon hearing Geopalt say no wizard would be going.
         Geopalt sat back down in the chair by the fire, “I can only think of one person that we can trust and that isn’t a wizard.”
         The two friends had the thought at the same time, they needed someone they could trust to find the boy and bring him back to the Hold but he couldn’t be a wizard which drastically lowered the number of people that meet the prerequisites needed to pull this off. They looked up and said the name as one, “Ruben!”
         “He’s going to drop dead when we tell him he has to leave his precious dragons.” Said Jacob.
         “Perfect!” Exclaimed Geopalt in the momentary silence after Jacob’s comment. “I was just thinking of how to get him across the wall when no magic can cross it. Simple, we don’t, you solved it my boy.”
         “I don’t think I understand.” Said Arnold ever so gently, “How can we get him to Ja’Macco without….” He trailed off as realization crept over his face in the manifestation of a childish grin.
         “He’ll go around it, fly out over Dead Man’s Harbor, he’s been dying to convince one of the dragons to let him ride it, this would be his best chance.” Geopalt said with a certain degree of confidence and pride at his decision.
         Upon their agreement, Arnold pulled a small silver ball out of his pocket. He held the chime in one hand and said, “A jamèa ni Ganik’ma tymie.”
         As he finished conveying the message to the council, there was a noise outside. Everything got quite all of a sudden and Arnold knew Jacob's fire had gone out but everything was moving in slow motion, as in a dream. Geopalt was still getting up when the door crashed open and Arnold knew they were in trouble. His last thought as he summoned up all the strength inside him was, “The council must be warned.”


“And so the Mission starts with an unknown man in a mysterious land without a Gift. All alone he will make friends and those friends will choose his destiny. With a mission of secrets he can not repeat or death will surely prevail for in his telling lies a truth that won’t be heard by the Hashna.”
Prophecy by Hagel Unlin – Master Prophet during the period after the Great War known as the Time of Repentance.