Chapter eight: The Nameless Intruder

Far beneath the surface, in a place where the sun had never reached, was a very dark and lonely room. Within this room stood two people. On one side was a beautiful young maiden, wearing a pure white robe. Her skin against the robe looked like the sparkling moon against freshly fallen snow. Despite the darkness she glowed with an otherworldly light. Her eye’s and hair matched her clothes, leading others to believe she was blind, but she still stared hatefully at the person before her. The other person was dressed in black. His skin was almost as pale as the girls, but lacked her soft beauty. He was completely bald, with sunken eyes that made him look more like a corpse. The most disturbing part was the color of his eyes. As if to compete with the girl his eyes were completely black. A normal person would feel lost when looking into the eyes of either individual, but they were two very different kinds of lost.

The old man’s voice sounded like two rocks grating together. “Who was he, where is he, how did he find you, and how did he get through the barrier?” The young girl looked back defiantly as the old man waved his hand over a pedestal in the middle of the room. After a moment black symbols began to spread across the maidens skin from chains that were wrapped around her wrists.

She struggled for a few seconds before a scream left her mouth, and then words started tumbling out. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know!” The old man felt quite confused. This spell formation was specifically designed for this girl. It could forcibly activate her innate talent, and force her to truthfully answer any question.

After thinking for moment he waved his hand over the pedestal once more. “Explain what you do know.”

The girl struggled once again before giving out. “I was dreaming that I was in my cell desperately calling out for help, but then I was suddenly over looking my home. I felt the pull of my powers and began to sing as it willed. I did not see the boy until your’ spell formation intervened, and then I awoke. I have tried to learn about the boy, but when I try to search him out I get nothing. It is as if he never existed. It seems he doesn’t have a name.”

The man in the black robe waved his hand over the pedestal once more before he left the room. A slight smile touched his lips as he listened to the screams of a young maiden.

So close and yet so far. The organization suffered a major loss to find that artifact, and yet it had slipped through their fingers. Just when they found it the owner had activated a massive spell formation. The spell was extremely strange, directly affecting fate. Most of the information on the artifact had disappeared. Names, places, and various information had been directly forgotten. If not for some unique methods they possessed they have forgotten about the matter all together. They thought the artifact was lost forever, destroyed by the last owner. A boy with the ability to sneak through their barriers, and hide from their oracle. It wasn’t a guarantee, but it was a sliver of hope.

(Elder.) A voice echoed within the mind of the black robed man, interrupting his chain of thought.

This elder stopped walking as he held up a ring on his hand. This ring had a black skull on it. He channeled some magic into it. (What is it?)

(We have not been able to contact the shadows whom you sent to the capital of Murus. It has already been five days, I fear something has gone amiss.)

The elders body seemed to radiate a dark energy which quickly flowed into the ring. (Five days? Why am I just hearing about this!)

A voice filled with agony could be heard on the other side. (I am sorry elder. Shadows prefer to work in silence. Since I am still uncertain if anything is wrong I did not wish to disturb your work.)

The elder quickly used his ring to search for the totems of those five shadows. After several minutes of searching he could just barely feel them. He could only feel them for a moment before they were once again cut off. (You imbecile! Not only are they dead, but the killer has almost reached the capital! Finish the preparations for battle. I will be back in three days, and if my army is not ready I will personally dissect your’ mind!)

(Yy..yess elder.)

The elder was in a very bad mood as he walked into the council room. The room was far more ornate than the previous cell. It was round with a curved ceiling several stories high. The walls and ceiling were made from a black granite while the floor was a shiny black wood. The room was lit by a chandelier high above. The silver metal looked like a blade, and the green eerie fire seemed cold. There were many paintings on the walls, everyone depicting a different person in a black robe with a hood covering their face. Within stood a dozen people all wearing black robes. One of them stepped forward, apparently taking charge. “Twelfth elder how kind of you to join us. Although we are still missing some members there is much work to be done, so if you could explain why you called an emergency meeting quickly, I would appreciate it.”

The twelfth elder bowed with a humble look on his face. “Third elder as you know there was a disturbance in the spell formation that holds the oracle. As the closest elder I was called back to investigate, and what I found could be very important.”

“Oh and what might that be?”

“Apparently a young boy somehow connected to our oracles power and entered her dream, bypassing our barriers completely. Even with the use of the oracle I cannot determine the identity or wherabouts of this intruder. The oracle said that it was like the boy had never existed. The only similar case to this one I can think is the one surrounding that artifact from fifteen years ago.”

A new individual suddenly appeared right before the twelfth elder, and pressed a bony hand to his forward. Beads of sweat ran down the twelfth elders face as he held back a scream. He fell to the ground as soon as the new figure had let go. The third elder immediately bowed reverently. “Greetings first elder. What do you wish for us to do?”

Everyone bowed their heads and waited for the words of this mysterious figure. “Spread the word we are searching for a boy, about fifteen winters old. He will be hiding, his history will be unknown, and he will be very lucky. I do not care if you must bring every lad in the realm of men before me, do not let it get away again! Ne Fati!”

“Yes, first elder! Ne Fati!” They all shouted in unison before disappearing, Besides the twelfth elder the rest had been communicating through an illusion. The first elder looked down at the twelfth.

“It seems that despite the removal of the unicorn, her magic is still protecting the realm of men.” The first elder remained silent while he thought. The twelfth elder was finally able to stand back up when the first elder once again looked him in the eye. “I believe we can use this. I have a plan I need you to execute.”

John had been riding for almost three days straight. He could now see the capital in the distance. He stopped by a steam to freshen up. John had a preference for staying clean, so riding for three days had left him feeling particularly defiled. After washing off the layers of filth that had accumulated, John started to look through the book once more. He had finally succeeded with the first step of the breathing technique, but the transformation of magical energy would take time. Since he had to wait on the breathing technique he had decided to search for something else. Although his uncle had said that his name could not be spoken, did that mean that he couldn’t read it? He had been trying to ask the book for sometime, but it only came up with gibberish. “Come on, what’s my name?”