More questions than answers. That's Black Magic!

Neth, Dethras, and some other mysterious Black Magicians from the past.

* Mora *

"Claire! What are you doing?" Cassandra was petrified.

"Oh, just joking," giggled Claire, in the way only female clerics can giggle, "I was reading about this Neth... Was he the evil twin of Seth?"

"I have no idea. All I know about him is that he was a Black Magic user. And that Cecil made an edition of his notes on the art.

* Elarum Mora Erarum *

"Claire, stop it!! You're not even a wizard."

"But it says here that this spell will give me a temporary boost of energy. And I'm tired!" Claire started pouting, and there is nothing worse than a pouting Claire. Cassandra quickly caught back her attention. "He tried to use the Curio as well, right?"

"Yeah... Speaking of Black Magicians and the Curio, what do we know about that Dethras?"

"Not much. Let me see." Cassandra took a quick look at her notes, wondering about the urgency of a better way to classify them. So many names, so many stories. Fortunately Kwesyther was diligent enough to have started making indices at this early stage of their research. "So, we know that he was mad, of course. And that he challenged the Goddess of Life. Our storyteller friend told us that there is no official document about Dethras, which doesn't exactly help us, does it? Some people say he was a follower of the God of Death, others say he believed to be the God himself. Loonies..."

"The Curio was still in one piece by that time, if I remember well."

"Yes, this happened at some point after Elara. It was actually because of Dethras and his followers that the cities thought it better to divide the Curio in three."

"Followers? Why do these people always have friends?"

"I don't know. Because absolute power is cool? Anyway, we know three names related to Dethras, even though we can't be sure about their role. Acres, Angammatar, and Arroc."

"Oh, wait, I think I've heard something about Senator Anderson mentioning these guys recently. She didn't know much either, but it seems that Dethras' minions had some Crystal Skulls. I think she also said that the Goddess was saved by the love of her surviving followers."

"Eww. No offense, Claire, but that sounds too girly. Oh, come on! Stop frowning, you know how much I respect your Goddess," said Cassandra with a smile.

"We better ask Nafets; he usually knows this stuff," mumbled the cleric. "Back to Neth. Have you ever read this? He was so mean!"

"Yes, there's that horrible bit where he's just watching the peasants die. And that spell, 'the Neth,' was pretty much about it. He wanted to see everyone killing each other. I guess he spent too much time around druids casting provocation. I like the names of the months in the Old Calendar, though: Mirtius, Jarius, Quiriat, Agrabal..."

"How can you even joke about this? This is so cruel... And then there is this other part written by someone else. I bet you like it, the hero is a wizard wearing a red robe. I wonder who he was."

"So do I. We still have so much to find out. For example, he talks about Salazer, the village leader. Which village is this?"

"Certainly not Lerilin, this all happened before the Black Plague. Anyway, it looks like they used to Curio to lure and trap Neth. And then everyone entered this weird trance and Neth died. Gone. Poof."

"The lich of Neth, yes. But the spell he wanted to created was locked inside a chest. Now... There's this part that keeps puzzling me. Someone called Gidéon opened the chest and released the spell, blablabla, mass murdering, and so forth. The book says that 'the King and Steward of Mirith killed Gidéon and managed to close the chest again.' Does this mean we are wrong about the time when Neth lived? Or did this all happen a bit more than the 'years after' mentioned by Cecil? I have never heard any other story about this catastrophe."

"Well, Cecil also says he is not sure this ever happened. But it is funny to see how the Curio was wandering from hand to hand since it fell on earth. I hope our cities know exactly where their fragments are."

Cassandra nodded, while transcribing her notes into a clean parchment. She then stood up and started walking in direction of the small room on the left, where Kwesyther had been pulling out his hair for nights in a row, trying to make a decent system to organize all the information.

"Your sister once suggested that Neth was the spirit that took Aducath's body," she added, on the way.

"Jane... She is silly sometimes. But we still have to find out who that spirit was."

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A long period of peace

The mage Aborek and the creation of the Blood Dagger.

"The death of Dethras was followed by a long period of peace. During that time, the Curio was separated in three. Mirith, Marali, and Andris still keep their respective parts to this day. With some minor interruptions, of course."

"I have heard that Lancaster stole a part from Andris and built the Ice Dungeon with it," declaired the clairic.

"Yes, my dear," nodded the Stranger," but that is recent History. A long time before that, it was Marali who risked to lose her fragment. It all started because the splitting of the Curio angered Lerilin and Brogan's Keep."

The pleasure taken by the Stranger after throwing a new name to the conversation was obvious. He knew that none of the girls would have ever heard the words "Brogan's Keep," and their reaction was as surprised as he would expect. Nothing like teasing youngsters' curiosity to make your story worth listening to.

"Lerilin was deemed not secure to have a piece of the Curio. On the other hand, Brogan's Keep was the strongest military force at the time. Far, far superior to Marali. But it was a mere fortress, not worth calling a city."

"Was Marali strong at all, at the time?" Asked Cassandra, revealing some remaining bitterness towards Maralian current situation.

"Marali was a very strong military force before the Twins invaded it," assured the Stranger.

"Where was Brogan's Keep?" Inquired Claire.

"You will find that out in a minute. Back to our story. The fact that they were deprived from a part of the Curio really angered the leaders of Brogan's Keep. Especially a certain Black Magician called Aborek." At this point, the Stranger paused for a second to enjoy the exclamations of puzzlement uttered by the mages.

"He decided to show the rest of the world how safe Brogan's Keep was, and to do that, he would steal a part of the Curio. Deep in the catacombs of the fortress, Aborek opened a portal to Marali's vault. Him and his assistant Ayara planned on invading the Vaults, sealing it from inside, and stealing the Curio."

"Did they succeed?"

"Well, the story is more complicated than that. Aborek had other plans for the Curio. I must add that he used to be a very trusted and respected wizard; one whose power would surpass many. However, as most of the book wager, he used too much Black Magic to open the portal to the Vaults, and became a consumed."

"What happened then?"

"How it really happened, we don't really know. Our main source of information about Aborek are some sparse notes Ayara wrote here and there. We do know that suddenly his plans went from simply stealing Marali's fragment of the Curio to creating an artifact from the two strongest sources power in Oberin."

Cassandra lit a new candle. Somehow, candles tend to extinguish when people talk about mysterious forces. It would be better to have a ninth one, than to find themselves in the darkness. The outlines of the Stranger became slightly more defined with the extra light, although not enough to reveal his identity.

"He wanted to create an artifact by combining the power of the Curio and the power of the Centaurs. Ayara witnessed him going mad and speaking of reaching powers even the Curio couldn't grant him: Aborek was trying to craft the Blood Dagger."

"How was he expecting to talk the Centaurs into that?" asked Claire.

"Talk? Who mentioned talking? Anyway, he did ask for a meeting with four Centaur leaders to discuss about Brogan's Keep demanding a piece of the Curio. That meeting was scheduled to happen in a few days when the invasion of Marali's Vaults took place."

"So he stole the Curio before the meeting?"

"Yes," proceeded the Stranger, " No one before and after Aborek managed to even breach in Vaults. But Aborek made it; he invaded the Vaults, stole the Curio, and sealed it from inside. As Vaults are bound to a designated Guardian's soul, the Guardian of Marali at that time was immediately warned. Aborek didn't even try to cloak or hide his identity, he wanted them to know. Needless to say a few hours later, Marali's army was gathering and getting ready to attack the fortress..."

"Wasn't Marali weaker than Brogan's Keep?" Objected Cassandra.

"The armies of Marali, Mirith, and Andris gathered in an unite force to take the Curio's fragment back. It took them but a few days to have an army ready for what promised to be the greatest war of all."

"Uh ho..."

"So war was at stake and according to Ayara's note Aborek's mind got totally eaten by consumption. He decided to use the Blood Dagger's power to totally wipe the united army."

"That means that he managed to craft it. Did the Centaurs accept to help?"

"Do you know how the Centaurs' power work?" asked the Stranger. Both girls shook their heads in negation. "The Centaurs are guardians of an amazing, yet very puzzling power. One that only unleashes upon their death. If they sacrifice themselves, the power that emanated from their body is the most curative of all source of magic. It can heal deadly wounds and cure the most devouring of all plagues... If they are murdered however, that power turns into one of the most dark, destructive force one can imagine."

"He didn't kill the leaders, did he?" Claire sighed.

"Aborek's original plan was to use the Curio, and join it with the Centaurs' curative power to create an even more powerful artifact. In his madness he thought he could kindly ask a Centaur to sacrifice for his experiment. But seeing the army gathered at the footsteps of the fortress, he changed his mind. He would assassinate the Centaurs during the meeting, and craft the wielder of ultimate destructive magic. And so he began the ritual. With a single Holy Dagger, and the Curio's fragment he had stolen. He stabbed Ayara with the dagger, and put it together with the Curio in a golden box."

"Where were the Centaurs, by then?" asked an impatient Cassandra.

"That is of course where Ayara's notes end. But other books were able to catch up," remarked the Stranger. "It is said that the four centaurs arrived for the meeting, but seeing the combined army decided to cancel it and leave. Aborek had everything planned however, and as the centaurs were turning away they got ambushed and captured by his men. They were brought to the catacombs of the fortress, and murdered, at the very same time the united army began its attack on Brogan's Keep. To ensure the corruption of the Holy Dagger, Aborek added a magical Black Stone inside the box, with the Curio and the Holy Dagger, drenched with the blood of Araya and the four centaurs. The Blood Dagger was created."

"Did he defeat the army?"

"No. No one can try to possess such strong magic and survive. The Dagger, corrupted by the Black Stone, fed with the Centaurs soul, possessing even a bit of the Curio's energy, developed a mind of its own.
The fortress fell, and soon the only thing that was left for the united army to fight was a bunch of blood creatures. Brogan's Keep was destroyed and reduced to ashes. The army got the Curio's fragment back, but never found the dagger. Only much later a certain wizard called Elefin did. But that's another story..."

"What happened to Aborek?"

"That is unknown too, it is said that his soul is still tortured by Ayara's departed spirit, and the echoes of his screams can still be heard by travelers in the ruins of what you now call 'Aborek'..."

The Stranger leaned back and lit a pipe, filling the library with smoke. One more story had been told, and even a man like him needs a break before engaging in the next chapter.


[Once again, the source is Stefan, and his words were preserved as much as possible.]

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