P I and Magic Book II: The Gods Return
Copyright© 2005 by Volentrin
Chapter 3
I was in the private portion of the palace gardens going through more sword training. Pao (my internal coach, the Debrasty I had accepted into my brain, at the end of the war with Jorslan) was drilling me in a two handed style now. He seemed content to stay out of my way, and incidentally out of my main consciousness.
Still, I was having difficulty with my patterns that he'd had me memorize. It was the memory of what happened with Arch Angel. Yesterday, I thought, was a day of miracles. To see my Arch Angel turn real... well that was something!
<Pay attention! You can marvel at the Gods later. This can save your life. Daydreaming can kill you, > Pao told me firmly.
I sighed and concentrated on my pattern again. There was a strange little side step hop that I was unsure of. I did not really understand the need for it. He told me I would discover the need when I was fighting someone, and until then, to keep to the drill.
I finally ground to a halt after an hour straight of thrusting, feinting, and moving. I was tired, but I still had another appointment this afternoon. Vostich had sent me a message and told me to come to him this afternoon just before supper.
It was a real pain in the butt to live in a world that had demi-gods and Gods and Goddesses... but to have them in the family? They also had a thought process that seemed to be: drop what you're doing and get here, sooner than now.
At least he was giving me time to finish whatever I was doing and clean up. Or maybe he just didn't need me until the hour before supper. Thoughts like this could lead you to go crazy. So I just shut that down, and went to clean up.
I teleported into the castle of my great grandfather, Vostich, and was directed to the sub-basement. I made my way down a series of stairs until I reached the sub-basement. I was met with yet another guard, and taken to a room I have never seen or been to before.
Well, that was not too hard, considering there was a lot about the castle that I hadn't seen yet.
"Ah! Paul is here, we can now begin," Vostich said.
I looked around. There was my sister, Mirwanna, and my wife Mariel. I raised my eyebrows at them in query. Mariel just smiled, and Mirwanna rolled her eyes.
"I am going to try to arm you three better against possible demon attacks. Come," he said, leading us further into the darkened room. It was difficult to see the room or guess it's dimensions.
I heard echo's coming from far off from our boots hitting the stone floor. We finally came to a stop and were standing before yet another door. It glowed dimly, and had glyphs written all over it. I recognized several protection spells and glyphs, but was unable to identify most.
Vostich muttered something and waved his hand over the door. With an echoing click, it opened. Vostich said something else, and light bloomed inside the room. It had shelves, and chests inside.
It was some sort of a storage room, but was protected inside and out from magic. I looked with my other sight, and saw items with power in them. Some glowed gently, others were a blaze of glory!
Vostich led us into the room and closed the door behind us with a word and gesture. He led us further into the room. I was sure this room did not look this big from the doorway, yet we still kept on.
Finally we arrived at the back of the room. Vostish went to the chest that sat alone on the shelf in front of us and took it off the shelf. He stared at the chest for a moment, then opened it. He removed a smaller chest from inside.
He closed the large chest, and placed it back in its lonely place on the shelf. He set the small chest which was more in the way of being a large jewelery box, on a table. Opening the box, Vostich reached in and pulled out a heavy silver chain necklace with a pendant attached to it.
"This was my father's. He was a powerful mage, and had it constructed and mother imbued it with her power for him. He fought to the death the last of an old demon breed that was part of this world.
"Demons had bred with humans here, and the results were demons that were a part of this world. It took over a hundred years to kill every last one of them. My father died with the last demon half breed," Vostich said in a musing sort of voice.
"What does it do?" Mirwanna asked curiously.
"It provides protection against all forms of magical attacks of demon kind. It particularly protects against mental attacks. The half-breeds were known to use subtle mental attacks. That was how they operated. Attack the mind, and the body and spirit follows.
"I gift this to you, Mariel. Of the three of you here, Mariel is most vulnerable. I have something else for each of you, Mirwanna, Paul," he said. He placed the chain over Mariel's head and then held the pendant for a moment. It flared with a most soothing green light, that then faded and was not noticeable unless you used your second sight.
He then reached into the box again, and pulled out two more items. One was a bracelet, and one a ring. Both seemed to match the other.
"The bracelet and ring were a set made for my Grandfather and grandmother on my father's side of the family. They too were demon hunters. I never got to know them," Vostich said, a little whistfully.
"I gift the bracelet to you, Mirwanna. The ring, I give to Paul. Both have properties to counter the demons ability to attack the mind. While they will both afford some protection against magical attack, these were made first and foremost for mental protection. Wear them well," Vostich said and passed them to us.
I placed the ring on my finger. I felt as if something icy brushed my mind. I looked at the ring closely now decorating my right hand. It was a heavy silver ring with a green stone. There was engraving on the ring, but I could not make out what it was.
I looked over at Mirwanna and saw she too was studying her new bracelet. It was made of heavy silver, with a green center stone, but with little blue stones surrounding the main green stone.
"All right. Now that this has been taken care of, there is only one more test to do. Come," Vostich said, and we followed him out of the strange room.
Just before we left the room, an object caught my attention. It was a sword in a scabbard. I looked at it with my second sight, and saw it seemed to vibrate with controlled power.
I was about to ask Vostich about it, when the sword shot out a spark. Vostich stopped and looked at the sword. I could almost HEAR him speaking to the sword. We all stood there by the door, waiting for Vostich to open it.
Finally, Vostich turned to the door and opened it.
"Come, we still have something to do, then we shall sit and eat a good meal," he said with a smile.
We left the room, and the sword, behind. We walked across the echoing room, and stopped before another door. Vostich took out a huge key, and unlocked the door. As we entered, I gasped at the power that the inside of this door displayed!
Vostich relocked the door behind us. What on earth could be in here that the door was warded like this? We went down a short tunnel, and came to yet another door which was glowing with wards.
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