MercThe Price of Greed II
October 29th 2006 13:33
The Price of Greed II
(I strongly recommend to anyone who would like to take the time to read this story, to read 'The Price of Greed' first. The original is also posted at www.insidethecynic.com)
Four years had passed since Cedric disappeared without a trace. He had vanished and left not even a single clue behind him. Rumors had spread throughout the lands and they couldn't be closer to the truth. The notorious thief finally got what was imminent to him; he paid the price of greed.
Those who knew of Cedric could not be happier to hear of his unfortunate encounter. Cedric's thieving skills were masterful but carried with them a reputation that stained him and his little sister. His sister Celina was one of the very few people to feel sorrow for Cedric's disappearance. Although his chosen profession was not very admirable, he always took excellent care of her. Since her parents vanished when she was very young, Celina had traveled with Cedric for a few years before she finally enrolled at a school for the gifted arts.
Celina sat in the corner of her room staring without purpose. Her bright emerald eyes caught her reflection in the mirror that sat in the corner of the small room. Black hair fell down her shoulders which hid most of her pale face. As she slightly raised her head, her broad cheek bone structure became visible. Celina's most distinct memory of Cedric was of the last time they were together; she was measuring her height against his. Back then the very tip of her head came to his shoulder. She had no doubt that she would be just as tall as him by now.
She felt horrible and partly responsible for Cedric's vanishing. Somehow the idea crossed her mind, that she could have prevented his disappearance if she had of been with him. The thought of her abandoning her brother quickly passed, as an image appeared in her mind. Cedric's delighted face as he learned his sister would be accepted into the school for the gifted, in a well renowned town called Litharious. Celina had always been a talented in the filed of magic, since a young girl she could conjure up her own spells and found great interest in alchemy. These feats served her well throughout the years she had spent in the large school with so many students. There was limited room for outstanding pupils, luckily for Celina she was one of them.
Celina's door opened, a young man entered the room. Her mood instantly lifted as her best friend walked in. Derek had met Celina the day she enrolled and began living at the school. Over the years they became good friends.
"Are you going to be late to Alchemy, again?" Derek questioned.
Celina quickly turned away and began to stare at the mirror again. Derek's reflection stood beside her in the mirror, an impatient look fell across his face. Derek had a similar appearance with his shoulder length black hair, pale face with green eyes, just a touch taller then Celina.
"No… I suppose not, let me get my things" Celina replied.
The two made their way out of Celina's room, and down a crowded corridor. Celina clenched her books tight as she pushed her way through the crowded hallway and into a large room. The desks inside the room were perfectly arranged in order with every piece of equipment in order and all the books neatly in place. The students sat quietly as Celina and Derek took their seats and awaited the arrival of their teacher. Soon enough an old frail man limped his way into the room, paying little attention to the students who anxiously waited for his instruction.
The old man retrieved a book from his desk and began reading the words which his eyes lay upon.
"The ancient white onyx crystal, even the tiniest fragment can light up the darkest of places. It has many uses which makes it one of the most versatile components known to mages..."
As the old man read from the book for hours on end, the students hurried to take notes. Soon after the morning ended which left the afternoon to begin, the old mage was getting ready to dismiss the class.
"I would appreciate your due work here by tomorrow, class dismissed. Celina I would like a word."
Derek glanced in Celina's direction as she stopped moving for the door way. Celina approached the old mage who, with a sigh, took a seat in his wooden chair. Celina made eye contact with him; his facial expression was nothing short of concerning. His wrinkled face said it all, this was something of importance.
"Celina, I understand your brother Cedric was met an unfortunate misadventure." The old mage said, breaking the silence.
"Yes, he did." Celina's reply came.
"You know me very well, Celina, so I will cut right to the point. I hear you plan on leaving the school to find him?"
"Yes, how did -" Celina tried to finish.
"What if I can tell you exactly where he is, Celina?" The old man's voice hinted with desperation.
"You know where he is?" Celina was confused, yet excited.
"I should explain. Cedric and I met while I browsed the Litharoius library, He approached me, no doubt he was about to empty my pockets of what spare coin I possessed."
"Sir…" Celina began to feel irritated. Once again her brother's reputation served him.
"I'm getting to the point Celina." He paused for a moment. "I spoke to him of a book, a book that is very valuable. We agreed that he would… retrieve it for me, in return for a generous reward." The old mage glanced at his feet.
"And…?" Celina questioned.
"This book as I understand resides underground in a library built hundreds of years ago, directly underneath litharoius. I sent him there Celina."
"I don't understand, you want an old dusty book from an abandoned library, and you send my brother?" Celina replied.
"Celina, the library is far from abandoned. Someone… or something is down there, something that’s rumored to be evil, very evil." The old mage's voice dropped into a whisper.
"I can get you there; I can get you into the library. You can retrieve the book, and I will have the power to bring your brother home." The old mage sat back into his chair with his arms folded.
"If my brother… If my brother failed to bring this book back, what chance do I have?" Celina was worried.
"You posses something your brother does not, the power to conjure magic."
"If you can truly bring him back, I will go. When do I leave?" Celina spoke confidently.
"Wait-" A third voice spoke, Celina turned to see Derek standing at the doorway.
"How much did you hear, Derek?" The old mage snapped.
"Everything… If Celina is to go, then I will follow." Derek snapped back.
"Derek, are you sure?" Celina appreciated his statement.
"I'm sure… When do we leave?" Derek replied.
"Right now, I will make arrangements with your other teachers." the old mage said before standing. He removed a long black scepter from his cloak. He began to whisper a chant which echoed the room. As he spoke the last word a huge swirling circle of bright rays were shot forward from the tip of the scepter. Celina moved towards the portal, and took a deep breath.
"Celina, take this and be safe." The old mage said as he tossed her a silky brown pouch, which was sealed by a black ribbon. Celina nodded in agreement and ventured through the portal, wondering what awaited her on the other side.
* * *
Celina ventured out of the portal first but Derek soon followed. They found themselves in a large, empty room. The room was dark, pitch black. Celina took the brown pouched and caught the distinct smell. 'White onyx crystal' she thought to herself.
"Stand still Derek." Celina ordered. She untied the ribbon from the pouch and pinched a pile of the crushed up white onyx crystal. With the crystal lying firmly in her palm, she blew the powder into the air. Sparks began to fly as the powder left her hand and soon enough the whole room was as bright as daylight.
"Look at this Celina!" Derek called.
"What? What is it?" She replied. Derek pointed to the ground below them. A white burn mark covered the floor. Instantly Celina knew how Cedric found his way through the dark rooms, he had white onyx.
"How old is this burn mark?" Derek questioned.
"It doesn't look like it was done recently." Celina spoke. As she turned her head away from the marking, she noticed a clearing in the wall ahead of them.
"Over here." She said.
They both made their way down a stairway and arrived in another pitch black room. Celina again pinched the grains of white onyx and blew them into the air which instantly brightened the room. Derek noticed a small opening in the wall on the opposite side of the large room. He ventured towards it unaware of the trap the laid in front of him. The tile his right foot was firmly placed on gave way, he lost balanced and let his leg slide down into the hole.
"Argh!" Derek shirked as he felt his skin be penetrated by some kind of sharpened object that lay in the ditch. Celina rushed over and began to pull him to his feet.
"Not so fast!" Derek yelled. Celina took one look at Derek's leg, and almost fainted. Blood covered his whole foot, the spike had punctured right though the sole of his foot, and up into his lower leg. Celina pulled herself together and firmly gripped Derek's leg. She began to chant words in a soft voice; her eyes clenched shut as the words formed. Celina's healing spell was enough to temporarily stop Derek from bleeding to death. She knew she didn't have long. Derek had passed out, he laid there barely breathing.
"I'll be back Derek, five minutes. You'll be fine… Just hang in there." Celina assured herself. She quickly moved into the small opening and began to crawl her way to the exit. Celina stood up in a well lit room, with dozens of rows of books. She browsed the first cabinet and her eyes quickly laid on a book titled 'Healing the wounds'. Without hesitation she grabbed the book and firmly tucked it under her arm. She couldn’t help but notice the wide selection of books here; these would provide a shortcut in advancing her abilities. She began to shove book after book under her arms. A large wooden table in the middle of the room caught her attention; she moved towards it and noticed a large black book lying on the table. 'That’s it, the book he wants' she thought to herself.
Celina hurried over to the table, and glanced at the spine of the book. 'Necromancy; the dark arts' a puzzled look fell over her face. She reached out to grab the book, what seemed like hours of movement took only seconds. She placed her hand on the book before a vision forced its way into her mind. She was standing in ruins, burning wood and dead corpses flooded as far as she could see. She began to walk around only to quickly realize that this place was what is left of her school. She began to panic, desperately looking around for anything. The ground started to shake giving way to a hole that ripped its way to the surface; a skeletal like hand gripped the edge of the hole. Demonic roars echoed there way out with the opening, she began to tremble in fear. Her eyes opened, she was back in the library.
The vision had shocked her, but nothing could prepare her for what she seen next. Cedric stood in front of her, his eyes were different. He was pale, his hair was grey and he wore a blood stained brown robe. He looked dead. Celina couldn’t fight the tears, her relief to see her brother alive, and her sorrow to see him like this over-whelmed her.
"What are you doing here, Celina? You can't be here, you shouldn't be here!" Cedric spoke in a faint distant voice.
"C… Cedric?" Celina replied. She reached out to touch his face, but he quickly pulled away.
"No, get out of here now Celina, get out while you have the chance. Please." Cedric's voice was riddled with panic.
"Cedric, come with me!" Celina snapped.
"I can't… I'm bounded to him… You must get out now, no more talk - just go!" Cedric demanded. It was too late. The earth shook violently; panic fell over Cedric's face. Celina quickly noticed what looked like big, wooden basement doors directly in front of them.
"RUN! Go now! Do not look back!" Cedric yelled as the basement doors burst open. "You've touched too many possessions down here, get out now!"
Celina froze, her legs wouldn't move. She fell to her knees as something began to emerge from the basement doors. Loud demonic screeches followed the creature out. It walked slowly towards her, a long black silky robe hung off the skeletal creature. Dark red eyes beamed directly at her, they fixed themselves on the books she had tightly clenched against her chest.
"Blood has spilt in my sanctuary. Possessions of mine have been tampered with. Now punishment is in order!" The creature's voice was loud and deep. The screeches came to a dead silence as soon as it spoke. Celina had time to take one more glance at Cedric; his eyes beamed the same colour as the creatures which were fixed on the books.
"You dare steal my possessions mortal?! Like your brother, you will pay the price of greed with your life!" The creature snapped. Celina wanted to scream but her heart was beating so fast, she could barely breathe. Paralyzed with fear she sat there as Cedric removed the big black book from her hands and returned it to the creature. Celina glanced back at the small opening; Derek would be bleeding to death by now. She managed to glance at the creature one last time, and caught him reading words from the tome.
A blinding flash of light poured out of the book, before a lighting bolt of green mist shot of out the tome and connected with Celina's chest. She instantly fell to the ground clenching her heart. Her whole body suffered pain worse then any feeling she had ever, or would ever encounter. Her mouth was wide open, as if she was screaming for mercy. No sound came from her, she laid there in agony.
In her last moments of life, she heard the basement doors swing open and the demonic screeches begin and stop just as sudden as they started. She felt Cedric's hand against her cheek. As she slipped into the darkness, she couldn't feel anything. The pain and Cedric's touch was gone. Like her brother Celina had paid the price of greed with her life, but what awaited her next was just as unexpected as her venture into the darkness…
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