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Late one evening, just as the autumn winds gained winter's chill, a royal guard burst into my study claiming reports of citizens hearing blood curdling screams coming from the forest. As per my duty as the Grand Warlock, I was tasked with investigating the strange thunderstorms plaguing our land and could not lend my aid with the reports. My employer, the King, instead offered the Adventuring Guild a weighty coin purse for any adventure willing to take on the job in my stead. Many moons had passed since then and not once had he called for aid, but it seemed that would change this evening.
‘His Majesty is in dire need of your aid, Ser.’ The guard said, his voice heavy.
I looked up from my tome and pushed a small stack of books to one side, allowing me to take in the halflings form. I peered over the desk, looking down at the creature with half crescent spectacles resting on the tip of my nose. ‘Does he now?’ I asked, dropping my quill to rest my head on my hands. ‘Is that before or after I finish my current investigation?’
Too many nights I’d spent pouring over various books attempting to glean knowledge of chaotic thunderstorms plaguing the land, that I’d forgotten what the outside world looked like. ‘I’m sure you’re quite aware of the predicament reigning havoc on our land, and I for one would like to be rid of it all together.’
‘Ser, I assure you there is no one else his Majesty could ask.’ His tone was graved but still hurried.
I sighed, pulling off my spectacles to rub my tired eyes. ‘Pray tell, did some adventuring party finally take the bait he was offering?’ The Guard gave a single nod to confirm my suspicions. I stood, slamming my fist into my paperwork and knocking a vial of ink onto the floor. ‘Someone did. Well then, spit it out Halfling, who was foolish enough to try?’
The royal guard swallowed hard, ‘Actually Ser, there were only two willing candidates. I’m told it was the Tempests.’
All the colour drained from my face. I knew their names all too well. Romeia and Mexius, a tiefling pair who’d become legends to would-be adventurers after we went our separate ways. I’d met them in the Adventuring Guild in my younger days and together we’d formed a party. Romeia came from a line of known sorcerers, proficient in harnessing the elements and able to change the weather with a snap of her fingers. Mexius had been strong, built like the Tempest deity that no one dared cross his axe, and I was their Warlock, lending aid where needed. But there was another amongst our ranks, and part of the reasoning we’d decided to disband. Leia, an elven woman proficient with druidcraft and the healer within our party. Our names were close to legend until our last mission Leia had fallen gravely ill, and try as the three of us might, we found no cure for her ailment. After our comrades death, Romeia soon learnt of her pregnancy and I was summoned by the King to become his Grand Warlock. I’d not seen them since that fateful day, yet they’d always been on my mind. I received word that Romeia gave birth to a daughter, born with her affinity for the elements but yet I’d never had the opportunity to meet the tiefling child.
‘What of their fate?’ I asked, glancing down at the portrait sitting on the edge of my desk, depicting my old friends.
The royal guard removed their helmet and held it to his chest. ‘I’m not at liberty to say, his Majesty refused to disclose the information, but I fear it isn’t the news you may have hoped for.’
I sucked in a breath. I knew his words to be true, but I hoped destiny had been kind to my old comrades. ‘I will seek out the Tempests,’ I said, refusing to look the halfling in the eye. ‘Tell me, what about their child? Is she safe?’
‘Actually, Ser, I’m told she disappeared with her parents. They were last seen on the eve of the first thunderstorm, hurrying out of the Adventurer’s Guild.’
‘I see,’ I said, collecting the crooked branch that served as a relic from my old adventuring days. ‘Well boy, don’t dally, I don’t have all evening.’
‘Yes, Ser!’ The halfling saluted, returning his helmet to his head before leading me out into the twilight.
We travelled from my tower, hidden away on the northernmost side of the city, through the winding cobbled streets and into the Thessagrave forest, where the thunderstorms had said to have originated. I’d poured my soul over endless accounts from travellers and adventurers alike who seemed unwilling to step foot into the forest due to the wailing erupting from the heart. The once lush green grass was now tainted with a purplish hue, the lightning from the storms burnt half the forest, leaving charred trunks in its wake.
The halfling refused to venture into the forest by my side and instead I pressed on alone. My many years of adventuring had gifted me knowledge of tracking beasts, and this exploration mission was no different. I continued through the blackened remains searching for the Tempest tieflings without a single trace they’d come through here, despite what the reports led me to believe.
In the sky above, twilight faded into night, the prussian hue littered with stars but still I was no closer to finding the Tempest tieflings. Just as I was beginning to give up hope, I heard a faint wail a short distance from me. As I stepped closer in the direction of the eye-piercing screams, my eyes fell upon an unexpected sight.
Within the heart of the Thessagrave forest were two bodies, lying in the earth. The one lying with their face in dirt had an instinct red scaled tail curled between their legs, and beside them lie a blue-skinned male whose face was contorted into a pained expression. I recognised those cold amber eyes of the male.
‘Mexius,’ I choked on my own words, unable to comprehend the sight before my eyes. I’d found the infamous Tempest tieflings, but I’d been too late to save them. Their bodies lie still, with a puddle of crimson pooling out beneath them. I turned to the ruby tiefling, ‘Oh, my dear sweet, Romeia. What darkness has befell you both.’
‘Don’t hurt them!’ a small voice drew my attention away from my fallen comrades.
Overhead thunder clapped and streaks of purple lighting ripped through the prussian skies. A chill spider climbed down my back, I couldn’t help but wonder if the two were connected somehow.
I looked up to see a small tiefling child huddled beneath an oak tree, dressed in nothing more than rags and clinging to a well-worn stuffed bear. Unlike the Tempests, her skin was lavender in colour with plum tresses that were tied into a braid. Her amber eyes were almost identical to Mexius, and she wore the same infuriated look I’d seen him pull far too many times on our adventures, but they were brimming with tears.
‘Leave my Mama and Papa alone,’ she whimpered. ‘They’re only sleeping, I think. When they wake up they’ll take me home, just like they promised.’
I knelt before her, dropping my staff to the ground and held my hands up to show I meant no harm. ‘What is your name, child?’
‘Mama said I shouldn’t speak with strangers,’ she said bluntly, furrowing her brow.
I scoffed, ‘I happen to be an old friend of your parents. Why I’m sure they’ve told you many tales of their adventures. I’m Aloo’nak, Grand Warlock to the King.’
The child puffed out her lavender cheeks, and I noticed a spray of white freckles across her nose like tiny fragments of starlight. ‘Khalida.’
Khalida.
‘What an interesting name. If my memory serves me correctly, it means everlasting.’ I replied, trying to ease the tension, but the tiefling shrugged off the notion. ‘Khalida, can you tell me what happened? Why are your Mama and Papa sleeping?’
The tiefling child withdrew from me, burying her face into her stuffed bear. ‘We.. well… Mama was teaching me to control the elements, but she seemed scared when I released my magic.’ Tears clustered in her amber eyes.
I could see there was more to the story than what she was telling me, so I waited until she was ready, allowing silence to fall between us.
‘When I saw how scared Mama got of my power, I ran away from home.’ Khalida said in a hushed tone. ‘I’ve been hiding in the forest for weeks, I was too scared to return home. Mama looked so upset and I didn’t like seeing Mama like that. But now… now…’ The tiefling child burst into tears. ‘It’s all my fault. Mama and Papa, they… they… came to find me but I was so scared, I thought… I thought…It’s all my fault.’ She held her hands over her ears and sobbed.
I glanced back at my fallen comrades, assessing the situation in my mind and piecing the missing pieces of the puzzle together, then returned my gaze to the scared little girl before me. ‘Khalida, did your magic hurt your Mama and Papa?’
The girl nodded and whimpered, overhead the thunderstorm grew more fierce.
‘Khalida, it’s okay. I promise you, it’ll be okay.’ I held my hand out towards her, The tiefling shook her head, ‘I can’t leave my Mama and Papa. What if they wake up and I’m not here, they will be angry with me again. I don’t want that.’
‘Your Mama and Papa were gravely hurt from your magic, not even my own can bring them back. I’m truly sorry.’
The child wailed until lightning struck the tree behind her. A large branch cracked from the trunk and tumbled towards the child. I grabbed my staff, chanting a spell under my breath and watched as it crumbled like a falling snow. Khalida stared around her, her mouth open to admire my magic. Her tears quickly dried and the thunderstorm passed over us.
‘Why don’t we get out of the storm, get you some warm milk and a nice blanket?’ I said gently. ‘I will return to lay your Mama and Papa to rest once you’re safe, else they would never forgive me.’
Khalida nodded, accepting my hand and asked. ‘Can I visit them?’
‘Anytime you like. Just return to this place and remember them as they once were. They will always watch over you, Khalida.’
Together we wandered out of the Thessagrave forest, with her tiny hand in mine. On that chilly winter’s evening, I’d realised I’d solved both mysteries that night. Once Khalida was safely in my tower, huddled under a blanket beside the fire, the thunderstorms that once plagued the land subsided. They’d been the production of a scared child, calling out to her loved ones and in her petrified state accidently sent them to an untimely death.
As I sat in my chair, pouring my soul over the report his Majesty expected regarding the situation. I glanced over to the sleeping child, and in that moment I made a silent vow to raise the tiefling child as her parents would’ve wanted and over the years we spent together I recounted many tales of our shared adventures together. When Khalida came of age I made her my apprentice. In time she would learn to control her power like her mother before her and one day live up to the Tempest legacy.
My little apprentice. Khalida Tempest. 208Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwDGaLH96F
208Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBLTYBM5S3
