Young Writers Society

After five hours of preparation, I chalked the last symbol into place, completing the alchemical ritual. It was one of the larger and more complex spells I’d created, which was saying a lot. I had drawn rings around the pool at the center of Taanyth’s tree with alchemical runes, designs, symbols, and equations leaving almost no empty space on the floor. I had needed to Flicker to my lab to gather equipment, ingredients, and books. I was exhausted from stress, lack of sleep, and mental and magical exertion, but it was, at last, complete.

“Why is it a circle?” Corso asked.

“What?” I said. “Of course it’s a circle. Most alchemical rituals use circles.”

“Yeah, but why?”

“Circles are, scientifically speaking, great.”

“That doesn’t sound scientific at all.”

“Oh, it is,” I said. “Nature naturally forms into circles. Trees, flowers, you know. Spiral galaxies and planetary orbits also form approximate circles. Besides, circles are the two dimensional forms of spheres, and spheres are just… fantastic.”

“You lost me at ‘flowers,’” Corso said. The astronomers on Alaran still thought their sun circled them.

I groaned. “You’re hopeless.”

“So, what now?” Corso asked. “We just… wait?”

“You and Laryn are going to get some last minute training in. I’m going to take a nap. Then we wait. The Alok has been attacking at a constant rate, one person every three days. He’s going to take Taanyth tonight.”

Under normal circumstances, Corso would have complained that I was going to relax while he had rigorous training, but he understood the necessity of his skills being as heightened as possible and me being at peak mental and physical awareness.

“Train for an hour,” I said. “Then meet me here half an hour before dark. That should give you about two hours to rest up.”

“Okay,” Corso said, face just a little pale.

“Oh, and drink this first.” I handed him a test tube full of greenish sludge. “And give this one to Laryn.”

“Why is it in a test tube?” he asked. “And why does it look like snot?”

“Just drink it.”

Corso downed the mixture in a single gulp, and his face crumpled into a look of disgust as he handed me the test tube. “Why didn’t you give me something to wash it down with? That tastes even worse than it looks.”

“Here.” I handed him a beaker of water.

Corso gulped that down, too. “Thanks. I’d better go train.” He left the tree.

I moved into an adjacent chamber to where Taanyth sat, eyes closed, back turned.

“Hello, Alchemist,” he said without turning. “How goes the ritual?”

“I finished,” I said. “Are you sure you want want to go through with this plan? It’s a bad plan. You could just hide tonight. The Alok would probably leave if he couldn’t find you. It would give us more time to prepare.”

Taanyth stood and faced me. “No,” he said. “I can’t take that chance. Even if we could hide, the Alok might take someone else. I cannot let my people suffer on my behalf.”

“Cliché statements aside, I could modify the circle to trap the Alok here. We could fight this battle on our own terms. The chances of success are much greater if we prepare the battlefield for our advantage. If we kill, capture, or otherwise disable the Alok, your people will be safe. We don’t have to take this risk.”

“No,” Taanyth said. “We will stop the Alok and protect my people. All of them.”

I clenched my jaw. I hadn’t expected him to change his mind, but I’d hoped for it. “Fine,” I said. Stubborn old elf. “Oh, and before I forget, drink this.” I gave Taanyth a test tube of bubbling blue liquid. He drained it without complaint, although I knew the taste was terrible. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Be ready for whatever comes after.”

As I left the tree, I drank my own vial of green liquid and flushed the taste from my mouth with water. Everything was in place. Now we just had to wait for the Alok.

***

I gave up on sleeping after lying awake under the blankets on my cot for half an hour. I tried reading a book and sketching blueprints for machines, but I always ended up pacing around the small room the elves had provided. I decided to review the plan in my head, because taking my mind off it wasn’t working.

In principal, the plan was simple which meant that less things could go wrong. In theory. This also meant it was easy to predict.

All patterns indicated that the Alok was going to appear tonight and kidnap Taanyth. Of course, it was possible that he would break from his pattern or that I’d misinterpreted the design some how. It was also possible that Taanyth would be killed, not captured, but given that we knew the Alok was teleporting, he would bring Taanyth somewhere before he killed him if that was what he was planning. Both of those events were uncertain, but probable.

If all went according to plan, the Alok would appear and teleport away with Taanyth. Corso and I would be concealed nearby, close enough to observe but not close enough to be spotted.

The next part of the plan relied on my alchemical abilities. It was, in my opinion, the most dependable part of the plan. Corso was skeptical. The vials that Corso and I had drunk were bound to the vial that Taanyth had drunk, so when it was combined with the elaborate set of circles I’d drawn on the floor and a dozen other ingredients I’d prepared, it would create a one way portal that would allow us to follow him if he was magically displaced.

This brought us to the part of the plan that I hated. Once Taanyth was kidnapped, Corso, Laryn, and I would follow him. We presumed that he would be brought to the same place as the other people who were taken if they were still alive, so Corso and I would follow him and the Alok, try to kill or capture the Alok. Assuming Corso and I could do that, we would try to find a way back to the elven village. Failing that, Coso and I would Flicker back and I would modify a compass to point at the village, a useful trick I’d picked up, and then the elves would walk back.

The other steps of the plan were, for the most part, sound ideas. This was horrible. We new almost nothing about the Alok’s abilities, nowhere near enough to be able to assume victory. I wanted to use the circle to trap him in Taanyth’s tree where I could set traps and explosives, giving us an edge in the battle that would no doubt ensue. Taanyth overruled this plan, saying that he had to find out if the rest of the people who were taken were alive. It had also crossed my mind that the Alok could be a Flicker, and if he was going to a different world the portal would fail. Portals were tricky things, almost impossible to manage even when I was drawing off someone else’s power. It would have taken me months to even attempt something that would bridge worlds. Even with all this, Taanyth had insisted that we followed the Alok instead of preventing him from leaving. This meant that we would be fighting in the Alok’s home turf with no idea of the being’s abilities or motives or why he had been leaving a message by capturing people in the shape of an eldritch rune.

It was hard to decide which part of the plan I disliked the most, but just thinking about the exit strategy made me frustrated with Taanyth’s stubborn nature. I tried to impress upon him that hoping to walk back to the village was an indescribably bad idea. The Alok could teleport. There was no reason why his lair would be on the same continent, let alone in the elves’ forest. My consolation was that Taanyth was risking his own life instead of mine in this part of the plan. Still, there was no time to come up with a better idea that Taanyth would agree to.

I sighed and flopped onto my cot. Two hours and forty six minutes until I would meet with Corso. I’d long ago realized that in situations similar to these, contrary to popular belief, waiting is not the worst part. But it’s still pretty bad.

***

I leaned against the bark of Taanyth’s tree, trying to maintain a casual front when Corso approached. I hoped my impression was better than his. His pale, haunted face and fidgeting hands gave him away.

“We all know what is going to happen?” Taanyth said. Laryn, Corso, and I nodded. “Remember to stay out of sight when the Alok comes. We don’t know what will happen if he sees you. I wish you three the best of luck. For everyone’s sake.” He went inside the tree to meditate.

For a moment, none of us spoke. Dusk was coming. All of the Alok’s attacks had happened after eight o’clock, but the time varied so we’d thought it best to arrive early.

“Are you sure you know how to use that thing?” I asked Corso, nodding at the sword at his waist.

“Insert tip into enemy, right?” He gave a nervous smile.

Corso was not going to be much help in a combat situation. He was too nervous and inexperienced. In fact, I would have left him in the village if Taanyth hadn’t insisted, citing a vague prophecy that he thought referred to Corso. I said that he might get hurt. Taanyth said that he’d already beaten me in a fight, to which I had no response.

Laryn, however, seemed to have descended into an icy calm. I had never seen him in an actual combat situation, but from what I’d seen when he was sparring with Corso, he was a competent swordsman and he claimed to be skilled with a bow.

There were a few half hearted attempts at small talk to break the silence, but they dissipated at nightfall when Laryn pointed out that the Alok could appear soon and I elaborated that if he caught us talking, we would probably all die. No one spoke after that.

The three of us stood pressed against the tree, Corso and I to the left of the door, Laryn on the right. Our silent vigil stretched on for hours, minutes blending and stretching. I stood on the strange line between tired and tense.

Without warning, white light flashed from within the tree. I stiffened and heard Corso’s sharp intake of breath. The Alok had arrived.

Seconds seemed to take hours as we heard the sounds of a brief struggle and Taanyth’s cry of dismay. He’d had to fake the reactions of surprise, but the struggle was authentic. There was an icy cackle from within the tree and another flash of light. The laugh seemed to linger after the light had faded. I had a haunting feeling that I’d heard it before.

“Let’s go,” Laryn said, moving into the tree.

I nodded. “The portal will only stay open for a few seconds.”

The three of us rushed inside. There was no trace of Taanyth or the Alok, but where the circles had been on the floor was a dark, rippling mass. Portals were less showy than wizards liked to tell people. I spread my arms and leaned forward until I fell through the portal.

The sensation of going through a portal is almost identical to that of Flickering. It’s cool, but not cold. There’s nothing to see, no light to cast shadows. There’s a sense of movement, but that’s not possible because there is no space. It isn’t spaceless in a cramped way, it’s scientifically not space. I’d long since theorized that portals used the same not-space as Flickers.

When I came out on the other side, there was a bizarre feeling as gravity shifted. The portal was perpendicular, so I was standing because of the angle I’d fallen at. I stumbled a bit, and I heard Laryn and Corso land from behind me.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the lack of light. We were in a cave of some sort, rocky and crude. It was damp, and lit by a few orbs of light drifting through the cave. They weren’t what had my attention.

Taanyth was sprawled unconscious at the base of a rock. A figure clothed in white, hooded robes was perched on the stone about ten feet above my him. He turned to face me, revealing dark eyes and hair, which popped out against his pale robes and skin. His taunting grin widened when he met my gaze.

“You’re…” I started. “Oh, grix.”

“That’s right, Alchemist. I’m the Alok,” the Harbinger said.