by Richard LeBlanc
Chapter One
Within a tranquil forest setting, a lone man was sitting within the shadow of a lazy tree - playing a sleepy song on an exquisitly carved violin. The man appeared to be in his early twenties - but appearances with him were always decieving. For he was a plainswalker - a wizard of great power that went by the alias - The Charming Enchanter. He finished his song - sighed and looked around the peaceful landscape.
"Cute as this place is - I must be going." he muttered to himself. with a wave of his hand - his violin vanished. He was about to wisk himself away when the ground around him began to shake. He took a sniff of the air around him and almost gagged on the stench. It was the smell of death. He looked around and watched as bony hands began to rise up from the ground. He watched as zombies began to stagger out from the peaceful looking pond.
"Someone wants to play? Fine by me." he muttered as he levitated himself up to his feet. He looked around and saw that the number of skeletons and zombies had doubled in a matter of seconds.
"Let us put things - on hold." he stated seriously. With a wave of his hand - everything froze in time. Enchanter walked through the undead creatures that were frozen by his stasis spell. He then cast another spell on himself and slowly became invisible. The stasis ended. The confused creatures couldn't find their target.
Moments later - Enchanter reappeared within his castle. He closed his eyes to see if all of his wards were still intact - they were. He sighed and walked over to where an elegant looking female statue was.
"Awaken." he whispered. The perfect statue began to slowly stir until it was as mobile as a human. It then looked over at Enchanter and bowed to him.
"You are troubled master?" she asked quietly.
"I am. I was out relaxing and all sorts of undead creatures started coming out of the woodwork. I don't mind playing games when I'm the host - but when it's the other way around - I mind." he stated seriously.
"You have a question?" the statue asked.
"Do you know who is behind these attacks?" he asked seriously. The statue slowly looked up at Enchanter.
"I see - a gir...gir. i see nothing." she replied. Enchanter was going to ask something else when the statue violently exploded. The plainswalker slowly forced himself to his feet. He took a moment to check on his wards - all of them were down.
"Great. Just marvelous." he mumbled as he looked at the rubble that was his mystic advisor.
"Gir gir? That doesn't help. I guess i'll just have to find out who's after me the old fashioned way. Seek out the little pest and destroy. But this isn't adding up. Whatever just hit here used powerful white magic - and yet I was attacked earlier by some secretive red mage - and a few moments before that a black mage. Why would three mages ally against me?" he asked himself as he began to pace back and forth.
"I guess i'll get my answers when i find them." he muttered. with a wave of his hand he vanished.
Seconds later he was back where he had been ambushed earlier. Much to his surprise - the undead creatures were still there looking for him. He cleared his throat to get the undead creatures' attention.
"Looking for someone?" he asked. All of them slowly shambled towards the plainswalker. Enchanter smiled and waved a hand - a thick fog swept in making it impossible to see. From there he secretly cast enchantment upon enchantment upon the slow moving monsters. When the fog cleared - one zombie was hideously deformed due to an unstable mutation. the ground all around them was covered by hissing snakes made of energy. He waved a hand at the mutated zombie - four snakes jumped up and bit his arm. Pain set in - but he remained focused. The large beast reeled - but then was completely under Enchanter's control.
"Level the playing field big boy." he stated. the monstrous zombie smashed at the slow skeletons. As predicted - with the psychic venom lacing all of the mana - convinced his secretive attacker not to regenerate his creations. Enchanter listened to the zombie moan - the spell was weakening. but it was still big enough to do damage.It lashed out and smashed another two skeletons. The zombie moaned again - the mutaions began to contract inwards on the beast.
"Just a little longer." Enchanter suggested. He watched as a hulking arm knocked the head off another zombie - and then ripped another zombie clean in half. He saw that the beast wasn't long for the world. another few rounds or so and the beast would be as weak as it was before. With a wave of his free hand the zombie grew larger than an elephant and savagely crushed the rest of the tiny attackers. He watched as the zombie moaned again. the giant growth spell faded - and the unstable mutation finished off what it had started. the zombie crumbled into pieces - at the feet of Enchanter.
"Kind of wasteful - but anytime you want to do this again - let me know." Enchanter called out to the silent forest around him. He stood expectantly for a few moments - but then shook his head. It had become abundantly clear that whoever was responsible had little desire to show himself.
"Still feeling shy? Okay. I can wait." Enchanter muttered to himself. All of the spells he had cast - returned to their proper place. He then waved his hand - and teleported away. Mere seconds later - a surly, troll-like creature slowly emerged from the water.
"We shall see how long you can wait - arrogant one..." the creature hissed. It scampered out from the water and vanished into the shadows of the forest. It was then that Enchanter reemerged from his invisible state. He looked over at the odd looking plainswalker that had instigated the fight.
"So you're the one - excellent." Enchanter commented as he followed the trail his adversary had gone down.
To be continued...
