And Chaos."I'll tell you what, boy, let me out!" Let me out and I'll kill Shivarius! I swear I'll finish off this nasty bastard, I'll pop him like a stinky pimple and then lick the contents! Don't hesitate, I will! Of course, I'll kill you too, but at least your death will be quick... maybe... I don't know, I haven't decided yet! But you can believe me, I will make Shivarius suffer for a long time!“I came here for nothing.- No, wait, wait, let me out ... no, just loosen the fetters a little! Even a nobody like you can do it, come on, give me a little chance, buddy! Let's!- Never!— Like this, right? And you have no other choice! You can’t do it yourself, boy, the task is not up to you!I was hoping for advice!- What advice?! Do you hear yourself?! What advice were you hoping to hear, slug?! Do you think there is some workaround? Do you think there is a way for a nonentity like you to bring down a colossus like Shivarius?! You live in the real world, motherfucker! In real - not in
As the Polyhedron and the Free Gyenjoylin battled, Tobius chose the moment tensely. It was not easy, because, unlike himself, Shivarius effortlessly parried and counterattacked the magical creature. He was fast, deadly, masterfully interspersed with sword and staff strikes with magical attacks, pushing the gyanjoilin and lashing him with energy chains that appeared here and there from the air. Shivarius knew plenty of ways to inflict pain and injury on a creature that could disintegrate in smoke and reunite. The moment came, and Thobius did not miss it, dishonorably hitting the archmage in the back with the Ice Drill. The impaled renegade fell to the ground, and the Gyenjoylin immediately struck his chest with his blade. But instead of dying, Shivarius turned into a flock of asps that flew up to the ceiling, merged together, recreating the unharmed body of the wizard, and he collapsed on the back of the gyenjoilin's neck, plunging his sword into his unsteady flesh. Crying terribly, th
After Tobius Moth entered the Academy grounds in front of hundreds of wizards, everything went awry. After some time, many heard through the Astral the appeal of Tobius, in which he denounced the archmage Shivarius the Polyhedron, calling him a renegade, guilty of the war with the Zulans and sabotage of the Academy. After that, hours passed before the barrier that kept the magicians out of the campus began to lose stability, and they began to diligently hit it with all available spells, despite the constant interference in the form of the air element. In the end, the barrier was broken through, and, having risen to the top of the main tower, the magicians found the rulers of the Academy there in full force, alive and unharmed.The guilt of Shivarius the Polyhedron was confirmed by the words of the stewards, and the wizards of the Academy were ordered to immediately begin the search for the missing traitor. But neither Archmage Shivarius nor Magister Tobius could be found. They weren't
The storm played out in earnest. Thunder shook the blackened skies, dazzling bridges between the clouds and the horizon flashed here and there in the form of broken lightning. Mighty thunderstorm wind spirits raged above and on the ground, swaying the crackling tree trunks.The three travelers made their way along the neglected country road, ankle-deep in mud, resisting the blows of the wind. They moved on without much difficulty: after all, two of them did not feel cold or tired at all, and the third wrapped himself in a cocoon of a spell that gave him his own warm and dry microclimate. They were approaching the intersection of two roads.There was a watchtower at the crossroads. Once it served the royal army, but now both the tower itself and the squat building from which it grew have turned into a roadside inn. The sign "Cemetery Yard" illuminated by a glass lantern testified to this.- Let's go? the mage turned to his companions.They only groaned softly in response.First, the wi
Maren shrugged his shoulders to show he didn't know, and Tobius looked him intently in the eyes.“Char Maren, I saw a stuffed crow upstairs. This raven is your necrotic familiar [Animal bonded to the wizard by an affinity charm. Usually, the familiar acquires a high intelligence, can understand the will of its master without words, or even begins to talk. Almost always, the mage can see through the eyes of his familiar and hear through his ears.], if I'm not mistaken? You sent him out to investigate, didn't you?“You can’t hide anything from you, enchantment Tobius,” he didn’t continue to lie. “But there's nothing there. Almost. A village surrounded by soldiers of the Church Guard, where investors are prowling, and nothing more.- Only?- She's depopulated. From what I understand, people just disappeared. Most likely, it was discovered by some traveler, maybe a peddler, and everything was reported to the churchmen, and they cut off the gap of the tract. Now the investigators of the In
Highbordan Forest was ancient and dark, part of the forests of the Savage Land, and fraught with almost the same threats as it. The settlements of the Rivne southerners huddled behind strong stone walls and looked more like tiny fortresses than the pastoral villages of Dimoris or Estre. The people of the frontier knew that the forest was to be feared, and they knew that it was to be honored, because all life in the south was fed by its generosity.The soil in Highbordan consisted of nothing but stones covered with a thin earthen blanket. Stubborn, meager, she rejected the plow, but the forest was teeming with living creatures that fed commoners in the service of the earl family of Caberden. Fur and game hunters, as well as fishermen, brought their main income to the treasury.In most of the region, a strong balance was established between the people of the Lord-Blacksmith and the spirits of the forest thicket, but in the very south, close to the border, the lands were sparsely inhabit
Thobius' wand was the most common, forged from enchanted bronze, with a twisted handle and a heavy massive knob, it looked like a heavy mace. No magic stones, no special inscriptions, just a layer of gilding on the knob and twelve spikes around its rim.- More than once or twice I had to use it as just a heavy club. The gray mage patted his wand on the hilt. - Never regretted it.Marin took his wand and hung it on his belt.“And your companions, char Tobius, who are they?” I do not feel in them, so to speak, sparks of life.— Man-made servants. The most reliable.- I completely agree with you.Days succeeded one another, wizards and monks wandered along the forest roads, occasionally delved into the thicket, questioning rare travelers who had to turn off the wide roads and go deeper into the jungle.Once the wagon got stuck on the muddy bank of the river, and no matter how powerful Brother Horace pushed it from behind, it was not possible to get the wagon. Brother Olveh answered the o
The monks could not sit idly by and follow the manipulations of the necromancer, they dispersed in different directions and began to crack branches somewhere behind the trees, apparently looking for something. Soon the good brothers returned to the path, slurping their salty slurps - Olveh decided to walk along the edge of the path so as not to leave any unnecessary traces, and Horace followed him.“No one and nothing,” said the little monk, “unfortunately, we failed to find."Then let's get to my conclusion." The necromancer rose to his feet, still clutching the basket in his hands. This woman was killed by a sorcerer.“Unexpected solidarity,” said Brother Olveh indifferently."And this sorcerer is not a Maren charm," Tobius put in. “She died a few hours ago, when both he and I were with you.“It is possible that he is innocent,” the Petrian still agreed, “or perhaps he has an accomplice. Time will show. Time and knowledge.Completely ignoring the gray mage, the monk looked at the ne