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Arion, Lord of Atlantis
Shadow of Things To Come
Elrod the Nimble glanced behind him as he raced down the twisting streets of Mu. He saw no sign of pursuit and he allowed himself a smile as he jumped over a gate to land in a cluttered alleyway full of trash but free of people. He leaned against the old gate and caught his breath as he lifted a money purse and tried to determine its contents by weight.
"This has been a good night's work. If I can stay clear of the royal guards and snatch a few more purses like this then I can depart from this place and live like a nobleman in the more isolated parts of the Empire!" he said. He put the purse in his flared belt and then walked slowly down the alley and peered out to see nothing except the normal scenes of passersby on their way to or from their own activities.
He joined them and mixed in with the crowd in moments. Elrod admired a blonde woman in a filmy outfit of pink and frowned as he saw her huge escort. The man weighed more than a small horse and glowered at Elrod with the silent menace so commonly found in those who came from Hoshan.
The thief bowed slightly before rushing away from the odd couple. By the Seven! These new natives who came from the sunken City of the Golden Gate are a strange lot! They come in every hue and size! Well, I'm more eager than ever to leave this place now. I may be a thief but I have my standards! he thought. He started to move forward when a shadow fell across his path and he felt a rough hand grab his collar and lift him skyward with seemingly impossible ease!
"Do not struggle so, Pickpurse! I would hate to see you smash your skull on the pavement below before the royal court can remove your head from your shoulders in due legal course!" said the uniformed man who held him tightly.
Elrod gulped as he realized that a guardsman on a huge green flying dragon was carrying him away! "And it had been such a promising day!" he sighed.
The guardsman laughed harshly and said, "Such days of lawlessness are over now! Queen T'Gallah has summoned many of us Dragon-Riders from Thamuz to keep order here in the new City Royal and that is what we intend to do!"
Within the Royal palace itself Queen T'Gallah expressed little pleasure at the news that her idea had been so successful. The tall and muscular black woman wore a long skirt of black with a brief top of gold. She nodded as her advisor Wing concluded his report. "The Dragon Riders of Thamuz though small in number have been very useful in keeping order and peace in the city. From the air on their winged dragons, they can see so much that escapes the notice of the grounded guardsmen. You may take pride in how much you have done to make this place a home for our exiles!" said the small man in green.
Queen T'Gallah idly fingered one of the large hoop earrings she wore, and said, "Wing, I thank you for your support. I need all the good news I can get at such a time as this!"
Wing nodded and said, "Lt. Wynnde still lives! There is hope for him yet. Arion has done much to heal his burns and assures us that the coma is better than a waking agony."
Queen T'Gallah said, "I know it is true. The High Mage of Atlantis speaks from the heart but he also visibly mourns for his friend and my lover. Arion may not be able to save Wynnde's life and I can not stand to live without him!" Wing remained silent and stood ready as ever to serve his queen.
Within a sick room, Arion, the High Mage of Atlantis, brooded beside the still form of his closest friend. Arion was a young man with long auburn hair and piercing eyes. He wore a blue and red costume with a flowing blue cape. A gleaming ruby gemstone rested on his chest and he gazed down sorrowfully at the injured Wyynde.
Wyynde was a tall and powerful man of the now lost Khewanna-te tribe. He retained his stolid good looks since much of the damage done to his body during a battle with a shape-shifting parasite named Dharel had been healed by Arion's magic. Still, there was an unseen damage and this wound threatened to end the brave soldier's life within a few hours.
Arion jumped to his feet as a lithe woman in green and gold entered and looked to him with expressive eyes. "Arion, my love, is there no change?" she asked softly.
Arion shook his head and said, "Lady Chian, I have nearly exhausted my resources. In spite of having more magical might at my command than ever before, I can do nothing to restore a man who has served me with a devotion and friendship I little expected or deserved to find."
Lady Chian took his hand and kissed it as she tried to calm his anguish. "Arion, you may work miracles but even you can only do so much. Do not torment yourself with such regret and recriminations. Wyynde would not want you to do so!" she said.
Arion drew back his hand and said, "Wyynde would not blame me but I blame myself. I have been of no use to him in his many perils. I restored him to human form after the now deceased Technologist altered his very body but I failed to restore his mind. That left him as a savage and uncaring brute and not the gentle and thoughtful warrior we once knew! Now, I can do nothing to wake him to even life on that lesser level! I ask you what value am I to those who call me friend?"
A pretty girl with platinum blonde hair stepped inside the room behind Lady Chian and said, "You can't say stuff like that. That was the way I was talking while I was under the control of that creepy Kr'rth. Nobody blames you for Wyynde's troubles. You have to stop beating yourself up like this!" she said.
Arion said, "Mara, I thank you for your kindness but I will not accept it until I have ventured one last attempt to save our friend."
Mara said, "Arion, I thought you said you could not do anything more!"
The High Mage said, "That is true. It is beyond my power to restore him but there are higher powers and I will risk all to make them do what I can not!"
***
Meanwhile, as Arion made his bold vow to save his friend, the Dragon Riders were resting near the dragon stables. The group of eight men and two women had formed a tight bond over their years of service. Most of them had seen action during the misguided raid on the City of the Golden Gate during the time the evil Garn Daanuth had enslaved the ruler of their city of Thamuz. They enjoyed a real sense of comradeship with one another and a rare rapport with the powerful creatures they rode so effortlessly. However, none of the other nine could truly relate to their most skillful member. He was a solitary warrior who kept to himself and projected a demeanor of distracted introspection.
Glynda, the ranking Dragon Rider leader, had made overtures of friendship to the strange man named Thiron but the bearded man with the oddly blank eyes had rejected her in his customary abrupt manner. "We need nothing more from you than a professional relationship. Give us our orders and we will do our part as ever we have!" he had said.
Glynda had turned on one high-heeled boot and stalked off. She was a capable leader but she was also a very attractive woman and she was not used to being rejected in any manner. Now, she left Thiron to follow whatever interests governed his off duty activities since she could not deny that the brown haired man performed his duties better than any of her other Riders.
Still, as young Gavanon came out of a dragon stall after feeding his steed, he shivered as he overheard Thiron whispering to his own dragon in a weirdly sibilant tone. "We will achieve the goals we had sought for so long. We will make know our rightful position when it suits the Master!" he hissed as he placed his head against the huge scaled head of his dragon.
Gavanon frowned and hurried away. There was nothing Thiron did that made sense to the boy or to the other Riders.
***
Arion had wasted no time in trying to live up to his promise to find help for Wynnde. The tempestuous hero had bid farewell to Lady Chian, Queen T'Gallah, and Mara before invoking a magical spell that transported him far from the mortal realm along with the still form of the injured Lt..
Arion materialized within an incredible hazy void where sweeping storms of sand and gusts of strangely visible black wind threatened to overcome him until he enveloped himself and Wynnde within a sphere of magical energy.
By Caculha! The Darkworld has grown no more welcoming than when last I traveled within this mystical limbo. Still, I would gladly venture into climes still less stable to achieve my goal. Only here within the realm of origin of all magics may I find she who will be able to heal Wyynde! he thought. He knew that the ever changing, whirling winds and altering landscape would have left other men helplessly bewildered; however, he was Arion, and he was superior in every way.
A magical glyph hovered before him and led him onward deeper into the Darkworld dimension until he found a glistening gemstone.
"The Negative Gem itself! At last I have located it within this nebulous void. This gem was home to me during my years of maturation and without that connection, my wanderings here might have been endless."
He entered the shiny gigantic gem and found himself in an environment unlike any he had ever experienced before! "By Caculha! This was the one warm and safe spot within the Darkworld as it should be still. However, I find it cold, dark, and devoid of the affectionate emotions of its natural occupant!"
He glanced over to where his magic supported and protected Wyynde. There was no change in the warrior. Arion frowned as he realized that the woman he had hoped would cure Wyynde was not in her home place within the Negative Gem.
"Strange! Jheryl the goddess of nurture and healing is not here. She seldom departs from this Gem or this vicinity for even the Darkworld can pose no challenge to her sense of direction. It is not possible that she became lost so what has happened to the closest thing to a mother I have ever known?" he said.
Arion referred to the lovely goddess Jheryl who embodied healing and nurturing. The raven haired beauty had made the magical gem her home within the void and she and her impish companion Ghy had raised and tutored Arion during his years of development when his essence had been exiled to the Darkworld.
Arion sat down and began to meditate. As he concentrated an orb with the imprint of an ornate eye floated upward and hovered directly in front of his furrowed brow. "Eye of Ra! I command thee to seek out Jheryl no matter where she wonders within this realm of stygian night or beyond!" he said.
The magical eye obeyed its master and a light beam illuminated the void until the dimness began to fade away into a brilliant light.
This light vanished abruptly as the Eye snapped shut and Arion was jolted to the ground by a sudden impact. He pushed himself to his feet as the darkness around him assumed numerous humanoid forms!
"The darkness of Darkworld has gained sentience! It divides and attacks me like an army of shadows!" he cried.
He felt a freezing sensation as one of the shadow creatures brushed against his arm. He drew back and shouted, "By the light that ever diminishes the night so shall I reduce you to the nothingness from whence you came!" Arion's magic exploded around him and shattered the army of shadows into diamond shaped fragments... that slowly reformed and returned to attack him anew!
This may take some time I can little afford! he thought as he resumed his own defense!
Arion stood his ground as the shadow things swarmed closer and their inhuman chill washed over him. "This is beyond belief! Jheryl's home has been invaded by these things! The goddess herself is missing! What type of dire magic could have produced such horrors?"
He gestured again and again and bolts of yellow fire blazed out to destroy the shadowy hoard. "These things reform after every defeat. I may shatter them again and again without tiring but I weary of wasting precious time here when Jheryl is in danger and Wyynde lies in peril!"
"Time is of little importance, mortal! After all, no matter how your kind protests against the coming of the final night, you all eventually become nothing more than shadows of a life since ended!" The voice seemed to come directly out of the semisolid darkness itself; however, unlike the silent shadow creatures with their frigid manner, this voice was mocking and alive with vital emotions and a palpable malice.
Arion frowned as a tall saturnine man with bright red hair and an elegantly shaped beard stepped literally out of a shadow to bow low before him. The man had arched eyebrows and his reddish eyes gleamed with a dark humor. His clothing consisted entirely of a red and black robe that shifted hues between the two extremes from second to second.
"I am Malvolio of the Shadows. Welcome to my realm. This visit comes prematurely since you still possess the thrilling warmth of the living; however, my rough and ready spawn will accommodate you by chilling the very marrow of your bones until you fit in nicely in this silent realm! To do any less would brand me as a poor host and that would make me no better than my brothers and sisters among the Host of Twilight!"
Arion stepped forward to confront the dashing if sinister figure. He stopped directly in front of the evil being and demanded answers. "The Host of Twilight? I know nothing of any such group. Your manner reeks of dark magic and that is enough to prompt me to subdue you like so!"
Arion used his magic to create an expanding sphere that wrapped around Malvolio even as it contracted. The startled Shadow Lord found himself bound tightly by Arion's magical trap.
"My! My! My! You do have pluck! Perhaps, our time in this realm will not be as deadly dull as we expected!" said Malvolio.
Arion said, "Where is Jheryl? What have you done with her? What manner of being are you that your magics can breath a pale imitation of life into the very shadow substance of the Darkworld?"
Malvolio smiled wickedly and said, "Good questions, one and all but I will keep my secrets close to me like the darkness that never fails me when I summon it!"
Arion cried out in pain as an inky blackness began to creep up his body. His vitality began to weaken with every passing moment. He held his hand out in front of his eyes and gasped as his skin began to darken as a thick inky cloud covered him. "This foul shadow spawn seeks to smother me! I can not allow myself to be imprisoned here not with so many depending upon me!"
Arion summoned the last of his strength and drew himself and Wyynde away across the Darkworld and far away from the Negative Gem itself! They emerged out of a cone of magical power above a desert of white sand.
"I can not follow my desire and rush headlong into battle against a foe who is unknown to me. I must seek answers to the nature of this Host of Twilight. If one of their number can face me and either capture or drive Jheryl herself to flight, then they are truly potent enemies. I suspect that they come from another plane of existence entirely!"
He heard the sound of howling and whirled to see a bizarre sight. Instead of viewing a normal field of vision with a landscape stretching even dimly to a horizon, he saw a variety of dimensional portals each with a partially displayed reality of its own. They formed a crazy network or pattern across the sky around him and defied even his sense of order and perspective!
"By Deedra's Chain! The Darkworld has been infected with some kind of dimensional warp that weaves and intersects in and out of our reality while linking a multitude of other realms to our own. It is like a cosmic patchwork quilt!"
"If the Host of Twilight did this then their power eclipses that of any being I have ever faced!" he said. He looked up to his right and saw a flying pack of savage purple hounds descending from a portal above.
"These hounds seek my life's blood! I will grant them no satisfaction this day!" he cried. He created a gleaming whirlwind of magical power that swept the snarling hounds into its embrace and carried them away.
Arion concentrated once more and summoned the Eye of Ra again. He peered through the ornate orb and then returned it to its magical storage place. "My chance to find help for Wyynde is lost. Not only is fair Jheryl missing but the Eye of Ra detected no sign of the enigmatic Weaver. That cosmic being restored me to my rightful magical prowess for love of Jheryl. I thought he could help me find her but even he is beyond its sight!"
Arion started to create a magical spell to take him homeward with Wyynde in tow when a stunningly beautiful woman appeared before him and laughed a sultry laugh. Her flowing blonde hair and flashing gray eyes seemed to swell up until he could not breathe or see anything but her eyes. He gasped and fell backward as his mind was filled with a series of rapidly flashing images.
He saw another woman of equal beauty but with no warmth about her. Her skin was the color of ice and her kiss burned his lips as it chilled his bones. She caressed him in a blizzard of ice and snow then faded away to reveal powerful waves that crashed down around him even as a lilting voice left his senses reeling and his heart pounding. When the waters parted, he saw an entire city beneath the seas and a hero in orange and green. That man swam away and Arion screamed as fire surged through him and left him staring at a crystal void.
Before he could react in any way a hand thrust itself over his eyes and he felt fur and rough nails and smelled a bestial scent before blinking and coughing his way back to normal.
"By Caculha! I was lost in a maddening array of visions! I could not resist them!" he sighed. He turned to face the man whose inhuman hand had somehow broken the spell that had robbed him of his senses.
The man was tall and muscular with a reddish tan. He was shirtless and wore only a brief loincloth with a sword belt, boots, and a strange red gauntlet which he used to cover the furry paw that served as his right hand! "Aye! That is the way of the witch. Her eyes create madness and leave her victims to die mindless at her feet while their world becomes nothing but a series of nightmare images! My hand severed her hold upon you. It has its uses although the price may be too high still for me to carry!" said the black haired warrior.
Arion said, "You saved me. I offer you thanks. Who are you?"
The warrior scowled at him and said, "I am Valcan though men call me Claw the Unconquered! I have been a prisoner within this foul realm ever since my quest led me unwittingly to enter this void!"
Arion said, "I am Arion, High Mage of Atlantis. If you seek passage out of the Darkworld then I will gladly take you with me. I know not which of the myriad of dimensions swirling around us that you call home but I can get you to the one I know best!"
Claw said, "Mage, I have little use for your kind but I will grasp at any way to achieve the goal that drives me ever onward. As for my home, it has no need for me now and I have never had much love for it!"
The trio vanished as Arion's magic brought them back to Atlantis and the city of Mu. "You speak of a quest. Tell me more!" said Arion.
Claw said, "You have a demanding way about you, Arion but I will trust you for now. I am hunting the Shadow lords who fled from my world when I triumphed over their forces. I seek to stop them from taking over other planes of existence. The woman called Angelique who nearly drove you mad is one of them. The others are here as well. "
Arion gasped as he listened to Claw's tale. "I started this journey because of a friend in peril. Now, I find my whole world is in danger. Come with me, Claw and let me tell my allies of your story. You and I face a common foe now and we must aid one another lest the forces of darkness win this day!"
Claw nodded grimly and followed Arion into the city.
***
After returning the magically protected Wyynde to his medical chamber, Arion addressed Queen T'Gallah and her assembled Royal Court Advisors consisting of Wing the main advisor, Kali the astrologer, General Tesh -head of the military, Lady Chian- leader of the royal guards, and Hefed the black-cloaked leader of the telepaths. Claw stood nearby and watched the Mage as he explained the crisis.
"As you know our cosmos has traditionally been governed by various beings of great power and differing intents. We have known the Seven gods and goddesses and other lesser beings of power from legend and in my case, from personal contact. Apparently, everything has changed due to an invasion of evil beings from another dimension! The Host of Twilight or the Shadow lords have fled from their own realm into our own. They seek to establish themselves as the governing forces of our cosmos. I know that they have great power and they have deposed, captured, or even killed The Weaver and Jheryl two of the Seven we have known."
General Tesh, a handsome and regal black man, said, "Can such a thing be true? I am no cleric but I have never doubted the power of the Seven!"
Claw stepped forward and brought his red gauntlet down on the table with a resounding crash! Claw said, "You don't know these fiends the way I do! I have been their tormented pawn since my earliest infancy. I have fought them. I have killed them. I drove them from my world. However, in time circumstances showed me that I could never know true peace while they existed on any dimensional plane. So, I have tracked them from one realm to another until Arion brought me here where I can feel their old corruption in the very air!"
Queen T'Gallah said, "Valcan, if you know these monsters then will you help us fight them?"
Claw said, "With or without you, I will not rest until they rot!"
Hefed leaned forward with his long , narrow fingers linked together to form a support for his gaunt and pointed chin. "Be that as it may, Sir Claw, what threat do they pose to us? We have not been attacked by them. We have only heard that some beings that acted toward us on their own capricious whims have been driven away. That is liberation not enslavement!" he said.
Arion placed one hand on Claw's massive shoulders and said, "Hefed, you are as ever too given to philosophy. I tell you that the Shadow lords will work ruination upon our world unless we restore the former balance of power! I also tell you that I will find Jheryl or avenge her for he love I have for her. I tell this on my oath as High Mage of Atlantis and as a man!"
Queen T'Gallah said, "Arion, you have convinced me. I am ruler here and that is enough. You all will do everything in your power to aide Arion." They nodded in agreement and Arion turned to Claw once more.
"Valcan, I thank you for the help you offer. I also ask for more. You come from the dimension in which those fiends originated. With your permission, I would perform a spell of similarity to allow me to track them by the essence common to you and them as beings from that foreign plane!"
Claw said, "Do what you will, Arion only I warn you that I want to slay them with as little delay as possible!"
Arion frowned and said, "Friend Valcan, you are truly a man given to fierce passions!"
Valcan scowled and said, "In truth, I am merely a man who can only control himself through intense effort. If I don't end the existence of the Shadow lords soon, their indirect influence upon me through this foul hand that came from their spawn, will be the death of me!"
Arion said, "I may be able to help you with that problem in time. Now, shall we take action?"
Claw nodded and said, "I would like that very much, Mage!"
***
Soon, Arion was the one frowning as he explained the results of his ritual to Claw and Lady Chian. "It is worse than even I suspected. There are dozens of beings -be they men, women, or monsters- from Claw's realm within our own world. Not all of them are within the borders of the Atlantean Empire. What is more, I see that I was correct when I feared the worst for our gods and goddesses. Tis not merely fair Jheryl and the crafty Weaver who are missing from their normal haunts, but I now detect the fact that Deedra, Altana, Tynan, Chaon, and the rest are all missing. These Shadow lords have deposed all the gods and goddesses we have known. This cosmos in now entirely under the thrall of the invaders!"
Lady Chian said, "Arion, my love, as ever I am ready to die for your cause. What shall we do?"
Arion said, "We prepare for war. We seek out the missing cosmic beings and we fight their replacements. To do less would result in the end of civilization as we know it. Claw has told me of how on his world, one culture after another ended in ruin because of the Shadow lords. Well, they will not bring down the Empire of Atlantis while Arion lives to oppose them!"
Claw nodded in grim approval. He had decided to trust the volatile Mage. Now, he felt that his own long crusade would finally have allies!
Epilogue
While Arion and Claw made plans, they little suspected that within their royal palace compound, there lurked one with direct ties to their foes!
Thiron the Dragon Rider hissed like a serpent as he made vows to conquer Atlantis for the Shadow lords. He whispered to his dragon and made plans of his own that would soon result in a open attack on the city of Mu!
However, a more personal peril was occurring at that moment in the sick ward of the palace.
Aga the elderly nurse was sitting by Wyynde's bedside with concern etched upon her features. "The magic does nothing but sustain him. I hate to see such a big strong man reduced to this!" she sighed.
A golden glow filled the room and a beautiful woman with soft features, long blonde hair, and a revealing two piece outfit of white that left her stomach and much of her back bare, materialized in the room. She kissed Wyynde gently and then smiled as he sat up and blinked like one waking from a dream.
"What has happened? I feel as if my mind is clear for the first time in months!" he said slowly.
She smiled again and touched him with one dainty hand. They vanished in another flash of light leaving Aga to sigh again as if nothing had happened. From her magically altered point of view, nothing had happened!