Book Three Chapter Eight: Mage of Life

Book Three Chapter Eight: Mage of Life

The trio left the tower shortly afterwards. Augustine was too busy standing in front of his destroyed bookshelf to be snotty to them anymore, and Definitely Bad Guy hadnt wanted to discuss summoning in front of the Wizard of Elements.

Right, next tower, the Chosen One said, rubbing his hands together as they stepped out into the still gently falling snow.

Chosen One, Definitely Bad Guy said, with a sudden burst of urgency.

Yeah? The Hero turned and looked at his companion.

I the Mage took a deep breath, steeling himself, I would like to thank you. While your methods were questionable, I nevertheless appreciate the sentiment. There was a brief moment of silence as the Mage visibly struggled with himself. The Chosen One and Qube just stood there and watched.

No one has ever stood up for me before, the Mage Advisor finally admitted. Not in the way you just did. He flicked a glance at Qube. You, also, for assisting. I it means more to me than I can express.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

Anytime, the Chosen One said, smiling sadly. Now it was his turn to struggle with himself. Im sorry, he added eventually, that you havent had people stick up for you before. Thats messed up that they he cut himself off, before resuming, thats messed up. Thats all.

Qube impulsively reached out and took Definitely Bad Guys hands.

Were your friends, she said earnestly. Well always help you if you need it. And that kid was way out of line! Even though he was supposed to be so smart, he ignored anything that didnt fit into his world view and just kept going without thinking. So really, hes stupid.

Qube felt a thrill at voicing such a bold and biting insult. Even though the Wizard of Elements wasnt present, she felt as if he would somehow know that out there, someone had just called him stupid.

Definitely Bad Guys face was now a deep red, almost matching his hair. The Chosen One coughed slightly at Qubes comment, no doubt shocked by her devastating words.

Yeah, not being able to see things outside a certain point of view is pretty stupid, he said wryly. But anyway. Youre welcome, Sparky. Im glad you could loosen up a bit.

Hes right, Qube nodded emphatically as Definitely Bad Guy tried to unobtrusively slide his hand out of her grip. Theres no need to Chosen One, put that down, she ordered the Hero, who had just made a snowball.

Aww, the Chosen One pouted. But I was gonna help him with his newfound sense of fun!

We already played in the snow, Qube said sternly. We can play in the snow again after we save the world.

Fine, the Chosen One sighed, and then threw the snowball at Augustines tower. It hit the door with a thud. Lets go to the next tower and see what new, quirky character awaits us.

Maybe the next one will be a normal, reasonable person, Qube offered hopefully.

They werent.

The next Wizards Tower had been painted black. A little odd, given that none of the others were painted, but Qube had thought nothing of it at the time. Maybe it was just to avoid showing soot marks. But when they entered, it was almost like theyd wandered into a strange version of the town hall back in the village.

There were rows of pews, filled with skeletons clad in dark, frilly clothes. The skeletons all swivelled their heads and stared at the party as they entered, the red lights in their eye sockets flaring as they hissed at the Chosen One. At the other end of the towers floor was a stage, covered in enough cushions to make a Lava Slime jealous, guarded by decaying wyverns. More wyvern skeletons and still-fleshed corpses clung to roosts studded up the length of the tower, as well as human skulls stuck to the walls that glowed, lighting the areas around them.

There was also a very clearly dead giant spider building a web at the very top of the Wizards Tower.

All in all, it looked a lot more like a tower belonging to the undead, rather than a tower dedicated to the magic of life. Unless the Mage of Life had just tried [Revive] and things had gone a bit wrong? Or maybe a lot wrong, given the amount of moving corpses around. Oddly enough, it didnt smell too bad, more musty and old.

Welcome, a tired voice scratchily whispered from the pile of cushions.

Qube suppressed a grimace. The Chosen One had some very odd notions about what was cool. Thank goodness she had Definitely Bad Guy on her side to help rein him in.

I would, however, be interested in discovering if the skeletal wyverns were capable of flight, the Mage said, horrifying her. That would answer the question of if they use magic to fly, and the wings are merely supplementary to their ability, or whether the membrane was necessary. Given my understanding of the weight involved in wyverns, I suspect the physical aspect of their flight is minimal, with the vast majority of their ability coming from magic.

The Chosen One and Qube looked at each other, both at a loss for words.

The Chosen One recovered first.

There we go! he practically shouted in his enthusiasm. Thats the spirit! Lets ride some skellies!

Qube gave her formerly-sensible party member a look of betrayal. Sensible probably wasnt the right word, but hed certainly seemed to have a lot more sense than the Chosen One.

Not that this was particularly difficult to achieve, she thought to herself as she watched the Chosen One equip his wings and fly up to one of the fully-skeletal wyverns clinging to a roost above them.

The Mage of Life seemed to reflect her misgivings, sourly watching the Hero and Mage Advisor soar above him and try to mount his pet wyverns. She couldnt even commiserate with him, since she was invisible. From what hed been saying, hed certainly been having a rough time of it lately. Given that he had achieved what she sometimes, when particularly angry, hoped to do, which was knowing both healing and cursing spells, she desperately wanted to talk to him.

She was also very interested in finding out how curses related to the living skeletons. Were they Evil, like the Chosen One said all undead were? They didnt seem to be doing anything Evil. Or anything at all, really.

How do you make this thing move? the Chosen One called down to the Mage of Life. Hed managed to clamber onto the spine of one of the wyverns, but it just ignored him. Definitely Bad Guy hadnt actually mounted any of the once-beasts, and was instead hovering in the air next to the Chosen One, watching the interaction with the tell-tale blood-red eyes that meant he was using a spell.

I do not control them, the Mage of Life wheezed out a whisper. I merely gave them the curse of eternal life.

Maybe the Chosen One had been wrong about the undead always being Evil. It did seem like an overgeneralisation. But could the Chosen One really be wrong about such an important issue?

Giddyup! the Chosen One said, kicking his feet into the wyverns ribs. Ow! That hurt! he complained, clutching his feet.

Yes. Yes, he could.

The wyvern looked down at the Mage of Life, then lazily flapped its wings, which was exactly what itd been doing the entire time.

Man, are you just decoration? the Chosen One (somewhat rudely) asked the skeleton he was attempting to ride. This is [balderdash].

Perhaps it needs some kind of incentive, Definitely Bad Guy mused, staring at the beast. But what would a skeleton desire?

What any of us desire, the Mage of Life wheezed. Definitely Bad Guy looked at him thoughtfully.

The Chosen One stopped clutching his feet and kicked at it again. Go! Giddyup! Fly!

Chosen One, please stop trying to kick others into doing your bidding, Qube called up to the Hero.

The Hero ignored her and just kicked the unmoving beast harder, before giving up and flying back down.

Stupid skeletons with their stupid animations, he muttered. Getting me all excited for flying on a skeleton steed.

There, there, Qube comforted her friend, even though she didnt really understand why he was so upset. He had a perfectly fine living wyvern back home that he could summon. Why did he want to ride an objectively worse version just because it was there?

Sometimes, no matter how hard she tried, she just couldnt understand the Chosen One.