A Girl in a Warlock's Tower

The small town was filled with the sounds of hushed chatter. Not more than a dozen buildings filled the place, each with tattered windows and dark gray walls. At the farthest point nestled between two crooked buildings was a tall tower. The dark fog spilling from its windows was beginning to clear, but it still blocked out the sky behind it.

I hovered close to Matthias, doing my best to act like a mindless ghost. The boredom was starting to kill me, and I had to ignore my desire to look around and take in the sights.

This was not the role-playing I was looking forward to. I was hoping to be a beloved hero, a powerful mage, or a shape-shifting druid. Not… this.

“The door is sealed with magic. We’ll have to knock.”

Matthias knocked on the door. A sound of shattering glass came from above, followed by something thumping as it approached the door. Whispering came from behind me, and I had to resist the urge to turn around. After a bit of clattering and scratching, the door cracked open with a creak.

“Is that you, Master Burkhardt?”

A cloaked figure spoke softly from behind the door and peered up at Matthias. Her eyes went wide and she shrank back.

“Sorry, Master Burkhardt is not home right now. Come back tomorrow.”

She rushed to close the door when Finley moved in to stop her. Finley’s palm slammed on the door, and the cloaked girl struggled to push against it. Finley towered over her, and I could see the chilling smile Finley made as she spoke.

“We just wanna ask a few quick questions. Let us in, for just a moment?”

The girl looked up at Finley with quivering eyes and nodded. She stood to the side to let us in, and we made our way up the stairs. The walls were closely placed, forcing us to journey up the stairs in a line.

Along the center wall were small candles lit with bright blue flames. Light from the top floor began to spill into the stairway, the bright natural light clashing with the dim blue.

We entered the room, which seemed to be larger than it looked from the outside. The walls were filled with books of all colors and sizes, and scattered across the floor were dozens of pages. In the center of the room was the source of the fog: a cracked lamp the size of a shed, similar to one found in a lighthouse.

“Please watch your step, those parchments are terribly important to Master. And please do not touch a single thing. If anything is out of place when he returns, I will surely be eviscerated.”

The small, cloaked girl waved her arms around, pointing to anything we might be capable of touching. Finley leaned on a nearby table, which was littered with miscellaneous objects, and the girl’s face went pale.

“Look, we don’t have a lotta time, so I’m just gonna start. What do you or your Master know about the Queen’s magic?”

The girl stopped scampering around and stared wide-eyed at Finley. Her eyes darted around the room before falling on the broken lamp.

“The Queen’s… magic? Hah, the old blathering fools at the Academy liked to call it Omnimancy. My Master knew better. He called it just what it is: Corruption.”

The girl’s demeanor shifted, and she sauntered over to the table Finley leaned on. She pushed objects aside and pulled out a burnt piece of paper. She paced a bit before standing between us.

“In the last letter he sent me, he declared that the Queen’s ‘magic’ came from an otherworldly power. No mage can ever hope to wield it. Not even a powerful warlock.”

“What if we had access to the source? Like, say, an otherworldly being?”

The girl faced Finley, her hands gripping the letter tightly. Finley rose to her feet and strode over to my side, gesturing widely at me. I raised my slumped shoulders.

She’s telling her now? I’m not sure we can trust her, not when we haven’t even seen her face!

The girl gingerly pulled back her hood, and I failed to hide my surprise. Her short, dark hair was tucked behind her ears, and what appeared to be a large, freshly-healed scar ran diagonally down her face between her round teal eyes. She stared at me anxiously before turning to Matthias.

“You’re not a mage, are you? What… is that thing?”

“No idea.”

“I see… May I examine it?”

Examine what now?

Matthias nodded, and the girl walked closer. She extended her right palm toward me and a soft green light appeared in it. She retracted her hand and placed a curved finger on her chin.

“Otherworldly is correct. I felt nothing, as if it was made of air.”

“I’m not an ‘it,’ thank you very much.” I crossed my arms, relieved to be free from that mind-numbing role.

“It can speak! This is most fascinating, a true marvelous mystery. If Master were here, he would sacrifice rest and meals just to study it— I mean her. Is ‘her’ correct?”

“That’s what I am, or used to be. I’m not really sure anymore…” I glanced at my arms, as if they would tell me anything about who I was.

“Fascinating. Um, what did you all come here for, again?”

“Answers, warlock. We came here to find a way to combat Eris’s ‘Corruption,’ as you put it.”

“Dark mage. I prefer not to be grouped with those eldritch worshippers. I also think rude men do not deserve answers.”

The girl crossed her arms and huffed. I smirked at Matthias, who looked like he would burst a blood vessel. Finley laughed heartily and approached the girl.

“Sorry about him, little lady. He is right, though. We really need help finding a way to beat the Queen. Anythin’ you can offer will be greatly appreciated.”

The girl stared at Finley for a moment, and I could see the gears turning in her mind. Her eyes widened, then narrowed as she backed away slowly. She eyed the lamp and covered her mouth. Lowering her hand, she eyed Finley with a tight frown.

“Who exactly are you three?”

The air began to feel tense. I could see Matthias reach for his bow as Finley raised her hands, taking slow steps toward the girl.

“We’re not here to cause trouble, we just need help. Based on what you’ve said so far, I think we have the same wishes. Eris dethroned— and the return of Solagard as it was before.”

“No… I know who you are. You're the ones who made my master disappear, the reason he came here— destroyed his lamp. The reason he attacked me, with that… thing.”

The girl raised her hands, dark smoky green fog emitting from her palms. Her eyes were wide and her jaw clenched. Finley held out her left arm, signaling for Matthias to stand by. She looked at the girl with a furrowed brow and pursed lips.

“We don’t know anythin’ about that, alright? We’re just a couple of rebels looking for a little help. This ‘he’ you keep referring to, he’s the one who hurt you? Who is he?”

The girl's eyes drifted upward, focused on something that wasn’t there. I could see the tears resting at the edge of her eyes. She took a shaky breath before speaking in a hushed tone.

“The Queen’s inhuman creation. The Shattered Knight, Endymion.”