Chapter 0.1 [Prologue]
“Aooooooooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuu!” the wolf howls. He sees its eyes shining somewhere just ahead of them. Around him, the sheep start to bleat. They knew what that howl meant.
The eyes vanished, and he looked around, nervous; the leader had slinked off, he knew, to a more opportune position. Just then, the wind blew across them, and the sheep‘s bleating worsened. The wind had carried the scent of another wolf, hidden, waiting. He could not smell it, but the sheep could, and they were starting to fray at the edges; already, some outcasts - generally the weaker - were being pushed away by the majority.
The attack was sudden. A pair of wolves ran right at them and split up, circling the group. The stragglers who had been pushed out turned and ran… right into waiting ambushes. He watched, hapless, as one of them was torn limb from limb by three wolves. Meanwhile, the two wolves continued to circle the group, darting in every now and then to take a swipe at the terrified sheep at the outside of the group.
As one of the circling wolves dove in, the sheep shrank away; one of them, already bloody after having taken some earlier attacks from the wolves’ sharp claws, lagged behind slightly. The wolf that was darting in snatched at the sheep’s leg, bringing it down right by the others, and gave a short bark; the other circling wolf bound to his side at once, and the two started to gut the stricken animal.
A trio of sheep at the opposite side took the opportunity as the wolves were preoccupied and shot off into the opposite direction. For a moment, it seemed as though all three, or even just some of them might be able to get away, but out from the shadows, a large grey blur shot out at them. It collided with the sheep in the middle, knocking the sheep sideways. The one just behind flinched back on instinct, allowing the other wolves that had been pursuing them a precious second to further catch up.
With two would-be escapees down and soon surrounded, the sheep that had been ahead bounded off. They grey wolf - the pack leader, he had no doubt - chased it down, its grey fur shining as it bristled in the pale starlight. The wolf zigged and zagged, and skipped across jutting rocks, howling all the while.
The escaped, panic-stricken sheep was losing speed, as fatigue and stress dragged it down. The wolf, seeing its opportunity, hopped up on a rocky outcropping and leapt at it. Glinting teeth and claws and grey fur collided with white wool, and not a second later, a blood-chilling mixture of the wolf’s triumphant howl and the sheep’s distressed bleating rend through the night air.
The large grey wolf dragged the continually-bleating sheep back toward the rest of the pack; two wolves went out to meet it, and the grey wolf left the job of dragging the still-living sheep back to them as it strode back toward the rest of the pack.
By then, all the others - eight, not counting the two that were busy dragging the sheep back and the leader - had surrounded the group. The leader stopped a few feet short of the group and started to sniff at the air, as though savoring the scent of fear. He knew the pack had enough to feed on; they weren’t hunting any more, now they were just killing.
The two wolves had finished dragging the sheep back - by then, its cries were weak and strangled - and took their positions in the circled that surrounded the group. The leader, snout still dripping red with blood, gave one short, final howl, and as one, the pack pounced.
It was hell. Some of the sheep raced out, getting lucky. He thought some of them would get away alive, but soon would be lost, alone; easy prey for other wolves and predators that stalked the night. More were mortally wounded or killed at once. Some unlucky sheep were squashed and trampled in the confusion.
As the slaughter happened around him, he found himself strangely calm. The pack leader - whose fur was now matted crimson - looked at him, its shining green eyes seeming to size him up.
Chapter 0.2 [Prologue]
“Wake up!” the voice echoed around the stone chamber. Allius opened his eyes, his dreams - blood, carnage, howls - fading as he looked up at his ‘visitor’. The man - and they always were men - wore a thin, bronze chain tight around his neck, looking down at him with an odd expression of fear. The man held a torch high above his head, the green flames casting its bright light around the small chamber; the shadows it made were red, and thus were of no use to Allius.
“Is it today?” he asked the man. It was odd, he thought; surely they’d never let him out into the sunlight? Furthermore, he was being fetched by a ‘bronze chain’, all alone, whereas there were usually two ‘silver chains’. Something had happened.
“Get up, the grand sage wants you,” the bronze chain said. Allius struggled to his feet, burdened by the all-too-short chains that bound his wrists and ankles. He blinked at the brightness of the flame; the stone chamber was underground, and permitted no light at all to enter once the door was shut, and he had been in total darkness going two months now. The great sage had sent him there, awaiting execution.
“What’s going on?” Allius asked the bronze chain, who was walking behind him - telling him which direction to go when needed - as they made their way up. The bronze chain said nothing.
Soon, both of them were above ground, Curtains covered the windows, though stray shafts of light still found their way in; whenever one of them would hit Allius, he could feel a little of his strength coming back. Again he wondered, where was he set to meet the grand sage, and more importantly, why?
“Turn right and head out through that door,” the bronze chain ordered him. Allius did, and no more than four steps later, noticed that there weren’t any footfalls behind him any longer. He went on, alone, anyway.
Chapter 0.3 [Prologue]
Allius extended his hands out ahead of him, feeling the smooth wood against his palms for a moment before he pushed the door open. Sunlight, bright, blinding sunlight bathed him as soon as the door swung open. A glance over his shoulder showed him the comforting sight of his shadow, a stark black silhouette against the white marble floor. His strength flooded back in a hurry, and with more conviction, he stepped out.
There were two men in the courtyard. One wore flowing white robes, a thin, golden chain with a diamond dangling from it taut around his neck. The other wore robes of crimson, a ruby dangling from his golden chain.
“Allius Schwartz,” the man in the crimson robes whispered.
“Yes.”
The man in crimson robes looked at the much older man in white, whose face had gone as white as his robes at the sight of Allius. “You…” the man in white robes whispered.
Allius looked at the man who had sentenced him. Without a word, he extended his arms out ahead of him. The shadow of the chain that shackled his hands together stood out on the ground before him. It wavered and snapped, the shadow separating into two; above it, the real chains snapped much like the shadow had. Lower down, the same thing happened to the chain that kept his feet shackled.
“This was a mistake,” the man in white robes said. “Call the gold chains at once,” he urged the crimson-robed man beside him.
“We’re just letting him out for a little sunlight,” the man in the crimson robes replied. He turned to Allius. “So, this is the much-vaunted ‘shadow binder’…” Allius saw that the man’s eyes were the same unsettling green as the wolf in his dream.
“Why am I here?” Allius asked, directing the question at the one in the crimson robes. He stepped further out into the sunlight, feeling his shadow - and himself - strengthening.
“His royal highness’ orders,” the man in the crimson robes answered. “He has… recently had a change of mind regarding… certain policies.”
At those words, the man in the white robes flinched, eyeing his crimson-clad companion wearily. “The king owes you his life, Sirvu, but you do not understand what you are about to unleash,” he said.
“On the contrary, I understand entirely what I’m doing, Keisen,” Sirvu said. He brought his hand up to his mouth and bit into the ball of his thumb with a pair of inhumanly sharp incisors. He dabbed the swelling droplet of blood onto his other fingers.
Allius’ eyes widened with realization. Sirvu, without doubt, was a blood mage. Behind him, his shadow started to billow, and it crept up from to ground to surround him, taking the form of a long, hooded robe. The protection it would provide was meager, but was better than nothing, considering how weak he was at the moment.
Keisen, on the other hand, seemed less perturbed by Sirvu. When he saw Allius gearing for battle, he thrust his arms out to the side, his face set. The diamond dangling from the golden chain around his neck shone out with a bright, blinding light.
Allious shielded his eyes from the light. His shadow robe started to melt away, helpless against the enchanted light that cast no shadow of its own. It had been the same light that had led to his capture, months ago. He could feel his strength start to ebb away, as his shadows were denied to him. At the edge of his vision, Sirvu started to move.
Chapter 0.4 [Prologue]
Allius inched back, too weak to fight, and outnumbered in the bargain. Soon, he would be completely defenseless, unable to turn to the other side for help in his condition, and by the looks of it, about to die at the hands of a blood mage.
Just as suddenly as the light started, it shut off. As his robe struggled to reform, Allius’ vision readjusted. Keisen was standing there, his arms hanging limply at his sides; the old man was dead.
“I must congratulate you, shadow binder… you’ve just killed the grand sage,” remarked Sirvu. Before him, the lifeless body fell down. There were five fading red spots on the back of the dead grand sage’s robe.
“You… you killed him,” Allius said. “Your plan is to pin this on me.”
Sirvu smiled. “As a grand mage, I am duty-bound to, ah, bring you to justice. Allow me to thank you for your cooperation.”
Allius skipped back as Sirvu lunged at him, bloody fingertips extended. He knew what would become of him if the blood mage so much as laid a finger on him. Sirvu pressed on, well-aware of his advantage. Allius stumbled away from another attack, but his legs, unused to so much movement after getting atrophied for months, chose that same moment to seize up. He managed to stay on his feet, but could move no more; even his upper body was locked as moving then would only upset his barely-there balance.
“Got you,” Sirvu said, mocking. His hand thrust at at Allius’ chest. His fingertips made contact with the shadowy folds of the conjured robe… and stopped there, as though hitting a barrier. “What..?”
“Shadows don’t bleed,” Allius informed the blood mage.
Sirvu drew his hand back, but he was too late; Allius had seen his opening. The rest of the shadow robe reformed, jutting out as spikes, impaling the blood mage multiple times.
“Sound the alarm!” a voice behind Allius shouted. As ordered, the alarm rang out not a moment later, and he knew that the gold chains would be on their way.
“You just dug yourself in deeper, shadow binder,” Sirvu said, smiling. He seemed totally unperturbed by the fact that he was basically stuck where he stood, skewered more times than he could count. “Do you think they’ll believe anything you tell them?”
Allius knew he’d been had. Whether he survived Sirvu’s attack or not was immaterial; either way, he looked the guilty party here. He didn’t have the time or the strength to ward off both this deranged blood mage and the gold chains.
“Damn you,” Allius said. He retracted the spikes and turned to run as Sirvu slumped down to the ground.
Chapter 0.5 [Prologue]
“Did you hear? The king’s ailment was treated recently.”
“They say a blood mage did it.”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard, too. Talk is, the king redacted the ban on blood magic and made him a great mage in thanks.”
“Well, some people are still apprehensive on allowing the practice of blood magic.”
“Who can blame them?”
“Hey! Stop talking like that! That’s treason, and you know it.”
“Well, this is the first time we’ve ever had more than one magiciar.”
“Actually, my sister was seeing one of the silver chains and talk is great sage Keisen is dead, while great mage Sirvu was wounded when a fugitive escaped.”
“What a load of rubbish! Looks like that silver chain’s yanking your sister’s chain!” People laughed, and the voice continued. “Anyway, what fugitive can take down both of them?”
“That boy, remember him; the shadow binder?”
There were gasps. “That can’t be true. Didn’t great sage Keisen sentence him to be executed? How did he escape, and why weren’t we warned?”
“Well, some details are unclear, but have you noticed more and more gold chains are out patrolling the streets? I tell you, he’s escaped and they’re trying to catch him.”
“Scary isn’t it?”
“Yeah... Let me tell you, I was there when they caught that shadow binder, and he took down a dozen gold chains like it was nothing.
“Twelve gold chains in one go? Whoa, I guess there’s a reason shadow magic is forbidden. You don’t think he’s still around, do you?”
“No, I don’t think so. He must be hurting real bad, and this time, fire mages are specifically hunting him down.”
“Ah, yes, I’d heard that the simplest way to counter shadow magic is to use flame magic. That’s a smart move.”
“Yes, Sirvu was the one who suggested it, even though he’s supposedly hurt bad.”
“Well, I hope they catch him and make him pay for what he did to the grand sage.”
“Oh, they will. Especially when the grand mage gets back; I heard he wasn’t happy that the gold chains even let the shadow binder escape in the first place.”
The townspeople continued on in the same vein for the next few minutes, but Allius had heard as much as he needed to hear. He had to get out of here. Being free - albeit a hunted fugitive - allowed him time to rest and recuperate his strength, but even then, his magic was currently nowhere near as powerful as it had been before he was captured and locked in perpetual darkness for months, sapping his powers away in the process.
He had to get out, and soon. If fire mages really were hunting him - and knowing what he did of Sirvu, they probably were - he could not be found, though normally they would have been nothing more than a nuisance.
Get out, recuperate, find out what he can of Sirvu, and come back to finish off the bloody bastard. That was the plan.
