What We Wrought

         Teren had seen darkness before.
         There was the darkness of night – soft, open, never silent, ever filled with the murmurs of night creatures or the whisper of a breeze. There was the darkness of a cave, darkness that was heavy, stifled under the weight of thousands of pounds of earth above. And there was the darkness of a tomb: ancient, still, stale and empty.
         But the blackness of the crystal before him was something else entirely. The black was more than a colour; it was a darkness like night, like a cave, like a tomb, but somehow more. It moved as he moved. The shadows within the crystal seemed to writhe the moment his eyes shifted. And when his eyes were closed he could almost feel it sitting on the stone lectern in front of him.
         He could almost hear it.
         Darkness shouldn’t make a sound.
         Teren glanced around at the five others standing around the black crystal. They were dressed as he was in coloured robes that reached the floor. They were wizards like him – some old and wizened, some not much older than him; a few had great white beards while others were clean-shaven. Not all were men, either; two were women, one stooped with great age and the other merely an apprentice like him.
         The wizard on Teren’s left, a middle-aged man with a voice that rippled with authority, ended the silence that had blanketed the tower study. “The Shaienn Crystal will be safe here. My thanks again, Arkaed, for seeking it out and bringing it here.”
         Arkaed stood on Teren’s right. A tall man, and at nearly thirty years old only a decade or so older than Teren; he was also Teren’s master. The journey to recover the crystal, undertaken without Teren, seemed to have worn on him. There were lines of stress etched into his face that hadn’t been there before. He inclined his head. “I did as you asked, Grand Wizard Muranis. Here it may be studied safely.”
         “Studied carefully,” corrected Muranis. “We do not know yet what secrets it may hide.”
         “Perhaps we should find out,” said Arkaed, and reached for the crystal.
         “No!” Muranis commanded, and Arkaed froze, hand still outstretched.
         The younger wizard’s head gave a strange twitch as though irritated by an insect. “I grow weary, Grand Wizard Muranis,” he growled, “of your timidity. Too often you shy from powers which might make this world a safer place.”
         “Arkaed,” Muranis said softly, “pause for a moment. Listen to what you just said. It is not like you.”
         Arkaed’s head gave an involuntary twitch again, and Teren saw his fingers stretching inch by inch towards the crystal. “What would you know of it?” Arkaed snarled. “All these years you have stifled me, kept hidden the secrets that should have been mine by right of power!”
         “Arkaed,” interrupted the old woman. “Put down the crystal.”
         Arkaed glanced down at his hand, shock and confusion etched across his face. “I…” He looked up helplessly at the other wizards. “I don’t understand…” He extended his hand back over the lectern to drop the crystal, and paused.
         “Let it go, Arkaed,” said Muranis. “Some evil has been wrought in you as you carried the stone here. We can help you.”
         “I can’t.”
         Muranis frowned. “Loosen your fingers. Let it fall.”
         “No,” replied Arkaed, and his face had turned from confusion to fear. “I can’t. Something else won’t let them open.”
         Muranis opened his mouth to speak and Teren stepped forwards to lay a hand on his master’s shoulder-
         Arkaed spasmed. He bent double, still clutching the stone, hands clenched to whiteness and every muscle in his face and neck taut. An agonized, strained yell was forcing itself through his teeth, and even as the other wizards leapt forwards to assist he convulsed again, arching his back as his limbs splayed in the air.
         Teren was too shocked to scream as crimson, leathery wings tore through the back of Arkaed’s robes. His white-knuckled hands stretched into rending claws and black, curling horns erupted from both sides of his head. He was growing; a rippling red torso burst through his robes. His eyes became liquid fire and his mouth glowed like coals.
         The thing that had once been Arkaed lunged at the nearest wizard. Its claws slashed like swords and hurled the wizard to the ground. Blood was soaking the wizard’s emerald robes and before Teren’s eyes the blood began to smoke, curling and writhing around the monster’s taloned hand. The Shaienn Crystal, now dwarfed in the creature’s massive fingers, drew the scarlet smoke into itself.
         Muranis dove for it, scrabbling to knock the black crystal from the beast’s hand. But even as he did so, even as Teren and the four remaining wizards moved to aid him, the crystal detonated.
         Teren didn’t remember hitting the ground. Nor could his eyes make sense of what he was seeing. Everything seemed to be swimming in a blue, smoke-filled haze-
         And that was when he realized that his vision wasn’t swimming. There was a blue, smoke-filled haze before him, but it wasn’t even a haze. It was a column. A column that roiled like flame from the ground to the night sky, filled with rushing inky shapes. A pillar of sapphire fire that blazed where the Wizards’ Tower had once stood.
         Information began hitting him like punches. He was in the middle of the cobblestone street, surrounded by the rich and ornate houses that made up this part of Teluran City, and even more surrounded by terrified villagers who stared at the ruins of what had once been the city’s Wizards’ Tower. The explosion must have thrown him through a window before it brought the building down.
         No…
         The people weren’t staring at the rubble, or even at the column of sorcery.
         They were staring at the things that were coming out of the fire.
         The black shapes that flowed like ink through the flame coalesced at its base to form vile beasts. Manlike they were in stature, but any similarities ended there. Mottled red-black skin was scarred and mutated. Fangs like serpents’ glistened in howling, roaring mouths. Black horns, like those that had burst from Arkaed’s temples, curved and shone like polished bone in the cruel light. Swords of some black metal, viciously sharp and shining, were clasped in their clawed hands.
         From the column of flame stepped the creature that had consumed Arkaed. It raised a gigantic red hand and pointed with a claw, and roared.
         Teren hardly understood what was happening. He saw the monsters charging towards him, yowling and snarling, and was too stunned to move. People around him were screaming and running in terror; the creatures were in amongst them now, black swords flashing in the firelight. Men and women were falling before the blades; Teren felt sick with terror; he couldn’t move. One of the creatures was in front of him, sword raised, fanged mouth spraying saliva as it snarled. Teren didn’t move-
         The monster was hurled through the air with a noise like a thunderclap. Teren’s head snapped to look where the attack had come from and saw Muranis, skin and robes blackened by ash and smoke, standing on a boulder. The Grand Wizard’s hands wove a spell in the air and fire leaped from them, devouring more of the creatures bearing down on Teren.
         Muranis sprang from his perch and heaved Teren to his feet. “Find your courage, boy!” he roared. “Get these people-”
         A black sword-blade cut the air between them and Muranis deliberately stepped into its path. He crossed his arms over his head and caught it across his wrists, but instead of cutting him the blade shattered like glass. Muranis waved his arms and the dirt at his feet surged over the attacking creature, dragging it down into the ground. “Get these people to safety!” Muranis bellowed.
         Teren straightened himself and fought to find his strength. I am a wizard, he told himself. He nodded at Muranis and sprinted towards where the swarms of panicked people were fleeing from the monstrous horde. There seemed to be no order to their running; some were going for Teluran’s main gate while others ran terrified down whatever alley or street they could see. Someone needed to shepherd them before they were cut off completely from escape. Teluran had thousands of citizens. How was he supposed to-
         A terrified scream, a child’s scream, tore through the air over the noise of panic. Teren glanced wildly around towards the source of the sound and saw a boy, no more than five or six years old, cornered against a wooden house. The demonic beasts were advancing on him, swords poised to strike. Teren acted instinctively, hissing a spell and praying it would work. The black swords descended and met a shimmering field of magic, and as the monsters swung in rage at it again Teren had already called upon his power to wrench down the nearest wall on top of them. He leaped over their broken bodies and picked up the boy.
         A furious roar thundered in Teren’s ears and it took him half a second to realize that it actually held words. “LET GO OF MY SON!” Teren turned just in time to duck a heavy plank of wood swung by a burly farmer. Teren raised a hand in protest as he was forced to dodge again. “We’re-” He stumbled over broken masonry “-on the same side!” He dropped the boy and narrowly avoided another blow from the makeshift weapon. The farmer suddenly seemed to see Teren for the first time; the panicked rage on his face gave way to confusion and he threw the wood aside, seized the boy and fled.
         The terrified screams of the townspeople had given way to new sounds of clashing steel and battle-cries. Teren saw the city guard – most still only half-armoured – struggling to stem the tide of ravening demons. Beyond them were hundreds of people running madly this way and that in terror. Someone ran past him and Teren grabbed him by the shoulder, spinning him around to face him. The man raised his arms to defend himself but Teren shouted in his face, “Listen to me!”
         The man seemed too stunned to speak. Teren shook him. “Gather everyone you can and get them to help you. You must get these people out of the city. Lead them, shove them, whatever you have to do!” He shook the man again. “Be brave, or all these people will die!”
         The man nodded with wide eyes. Teren released him and seized the next three people to race past. He shouted the same things at them and hoped that at least some of them could find the courage to do it. But what could even four people do for thousands?
         Teren had no more time to think about it. The creatures were closing in on him, driving him into the mass of city guards. The demons were swarming over the soldiers like starving rats, hacking and cutting with sword and talon alike. Teren staggered as the smell of blood and death washed over him. His ears were deafened by roars, screams and metallic crashes. He could hardly see either; smoke from buildings set alight by dropped torches and unchecked fires billowed in the streets and choked him. A soldier fell at his feet and he slipped in the sudden pool of blood. The creature that had hewn the man down sprang over the body, growling and spitting at Teren like a possessed cat; Teren responded with a wash of flame from his hands that burned the beast to ash. A guard stumbled against him and swore before driving his sword deep through his attacker’s chest. Teren tried to steady the man but the guard slipped on the bloody road and fell. Teren reached down and pulled him to his feet. The guard looked at him for a second, took in his robes, and spat on the ground at his feet.
         They think this was our doing? Teren could hardly think.
         But it was us. We brought the crystal here. We caused this.
         The guard hadn’t spared Teren a second glance before he’d disappeared back into the fray. Teren didn’t know what to do. If he stood and fought he might just be in the way of the soldiers, but what else could he do? He was one man, one kid to most of these people.
         A hand gripped his shoulder and he whirled. The other apprentice, Aiara, a girl his own age, was standing there. “Muranis told you to get these people to safety!” she snapped. “Not play hero and fight!”
         Teren shoved her aside as a black sword split the air where she’d just stood. His mind froze momentarily, he couldn’t think of a spell-
         A single bolt of lightning ripped the air apart and turned the attacking monster into a blackened corpse. Aiara nodded with satisfaction before rounding on Teren again. She pointed angrily towards the gates. “People are getting slaughtered while you-”
         “What am I supposed to do?” retorted Teren. “If you have any ideas-”
         A heavy hand seized each of them by the front of their robes and hurled them away from the front line of battle. A guard, bleeding from a wound on his head, shoved them both again. “You’re both in the way right now!” he snarled. “Get-” He spun and cleaved an encroaching creature from shoulder to chest “-out of here! You’re only making things worse. You-” He fell with a groan as a black blade passed through his unarmoured torso.
         All around them it was the same. The guards were being cut down mercilessly by the inexorable demonic horde. Everywhere Teren stepped he was stepping on or over bodies – guards, monsters, townsmen too. A cry went up from somewhere in the crowd of guards, “Fall back! Fall back!” and the guards began to back away as best they could. And still the demons came on.
         Teren took his eyes off the oncoming monsters for a brief second to glance up at the towering column of blue fire and felt sick with fear. Still the creatures poured forth from it. Black smoke flowed through blue to materialize into more of the beasts.
         And standing atop a roof, red flesh lit with the icy glow of the sorcery and the crimson light of the real fires burning in the city, stood the thing which had once been Teren’s master. It surveyed the battle, flaming eyes burning ever brighter with triumph.
         “That thing has to be killed,” Teren said flatly. “And its portal has to be closed.”
         Aiara scoffed. “And who’s going to do that. You?”
         “I will,” boomed Muranis’ voice. Both Teren and Aiara turned to face him. The Grand Wizard was limping and bleeding from several wounds. He stumped past them and roared to the soldiers, “Guards! Make for the edge of the city. Bring as many people with you as you can. I will wait as long as I can.”
         “Before what?” shouted a guard.
         “Before I bring down that portal and this whole demon-infested city.” Muranis’ face was stone with resolution.
         The guards obeyed. Teren sprinted to where Muranis was now fending off numerous creatures on his own. Fire was leaping from the Grand Wizard’s palms, hammers of wind sent monsters spinning into the air and his enemies’ swords shattered against him. “How are you going to close it?” Teren exclaimed.
         Muranis sent a discarded rope snaking through the air to throttle several of the invading beasts. “I will draw the portal’s power into myself. When I release it, it will destroy the city and all the demons with it.”
         “And yourself,” Teren said.
         “There is no other way.”
         “Let me help you!”
         Muranis broke from fighting just long enough to point Teren back towards the city gates. “We did this. The people will need your help.”
         Teren nodded dumbly and began running towards the distant gates. He grabbed Aiara by the arm to draw her along with him but she shook him off violently before running after him. Teren glanced over his shoulder as he ran. Muranis was surrounded by a sea of creatures, nearly invisible in their midst. But Teren could see him by his power; thunderbolts and flame split the darkness and demons hurtled through the air. Muranis was holding them back, keeping them from pursuing the guards and villagers as best he could.
         Then the portal started to writhe.
         Blue flames peeled away like smoke, whipping downwards in ghostly trails towards where Muranis was still fighting. More and more of the sorceric column twisted and convulsed until a great split appeared in its centre. More tears appeared-
         The portal was torn asunder. Its upper half fled skywards, boiling away into the clouds until nothing remained while its lower half blazed into the ground and burned itself out. For a moment, all sound seemed to have been torn from the world.
         And with a roar like thunder, the earth split. Right beneath the portal the ground opened up like a mouth, devouring the city as buildings tumbled into it. As Teren ran and watched, the hole expanded, racing outwards to consume all of Teluran. Houses, shops, roads, all vanished into the yawning maw with the ear-shattering bellow of collapsing stone. Teren felt the ground shaking and ran faster. The demons that had passed Muranis were howling and shrieking in terror as the ground opened up behind them and one by one pulled them into its depths. The abyss was nearly level with Aiara now; Teren could see its blackness racing behind her as stones from the street spilled into it. Aiara’s eyes were white with fear; she ran faster; Teren grabbed her by the hand and pulled her faster still; the chasm was upon them-
         Then they were out, speeding over the grass as the city walls collapsed into the darkness behind them with a roar.
         And then all was silent.
         For a long while, not one of the multitude of townspeople moved. Teren watched them, their faces illuminated by moonlight, as they stared in dumb horror at the immense crater that had once been their home.
         All at once voices began to rise up. Children screamed and cried; parents fell to their knees and sobbed with shock and horror. People began to race madly about, looking for friends and family. Teren could only watch helplessly, until Aiara rounded on him. “Look at all of this!” she screamed at him. “This is all your master’s fault!” She shoved him violently. “Because of him everything we had is gone!”
         Teren stumbled in surprise and raised his hands helplessly. “I-” he began but Aiara cut him off. “The other wizards are dead because of him! My master is dead because of yours!”
         “You think I don’t know that?” snapped Teren bitterly. “How do you think I feel?”
         “You don’t care! You just wandered off to fight while people around you were massacred!”
         “I – are you – I did everything I could!”
         Aiara shoved him again. “You had a responsibility! This was your fault-”
         “My fault!?” Teren shouted as he regained his balance. “I know Arkaed was my master, but I did everything I could to help! And,” he added spitefully, “if you want to start throwing the blame around, maybe since your master was such close friends with Arkaed, maybe she could have stopped him before he’d even picked up the crystal!”
         Aiara’s jaw dropped. “Kevalda’s fault?” she shrieked. “How can you – how could – my master is dead!”
         “Well,” returned Teren, “so is m-”
         “ENOUGH!” bellowed a voice. Both apprentices spun to face it and found themselves grabbed by pan-sized fists as a massive guard stared into their faces. “You can both leave,” he snarled. “Settle your problems somewhere else.”
         “We can help,” retorted Teren.
         The guard laughed bitterly and released them, sweeping an arm around from the city to the people. “I think you’ve done enough.”
         Teren had no answer. He swallowed hard. “Where will you go?” he murmured.
         The guard shook his head in disgust at him. “So you can follow us and cause even more damage?”
         “I want to fix this,” replied Teren.
         The guard scoffed. “Fix this? You can start by going.”
         “Going where?”
         “I don’t care,” growled the guard. “Far away. Far from any living thing. Far enough that the next time you rip your house apart no one’s close enough to notice.”
         Teren opened his mouth to reply but no words came. He stared down at the ground. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
         The soldier snorted and strode away.
         Teren turned to walk away. He had gone maybe twenty paces when Aiara murmured after him, “Teren.”
         Teren half-turned and glanced over his shoulder. Aiara stared at the ground. “I’m sorry.” She sank to the ground and sat there, staring numbly at the grass. “I just…I don’t know what to do anymore.”
         Teren turned fully and took a hesitant step towards her. “I know what I’m going to do.”
         Aiara was still aimlessly watching the ground. “What?”
         Teren pointed to where the guards had begun to shepherd the people together and lead them away into the night. “They don’t want us to help them. But I’m still going to.”
         “How?” Aiara asked. Her tone betrayed her doubt.
         “I’ll watch from afar, out of sight. I’ll protect them from things they won’t even know about.” He paused. “But I could use some help.”
         Aiara looked up at him with a start. “After everything I said?”
         Teren walked towards her and offered her his hand. He nodded.
         Aiara took his hand and Teren pulled her to her feet. “We should get away from them first,” she said. “They’ll be watching for us.”
         As they walked away from the still-smoking ruins of the city, away from the despairing townspeople, Teren felt a terrible weight sinking into his heart. He owed them so much more than this. I should be there, helping the injured, carrying the weak. Not hiding.
         But this was all he could do. And though it was far less than they deserved, he would do it, unthanked, unnoticed, because it was the only way he could start to put things right.
         At least I won’t be doing it alone.



Word count: 3773