Pick a Card
By WhiteMage


Chapter 2: Disturbances

    Nobody knows when the tower itself was built. A huge black structure that seemed to reflect the light as well as absorb it at the same time, and the records of it�s making do not exist. It is made of a material that nobody ever knew about, and which people still can�t figure out. But the tower was there.

    Over the millennia it existed it served many purposes. The last, before it disappeared into the void, was being a High Tower of the Magi. This in itself was a sort of mystery.

    Nobody knew about the Magi either. Humanoid creatures with a huge capacity for magick did not even begin to describe them. Legend has it that at one point in time a single magus could destroy a planet with the blink of an eye. If the magi still existed, they were well hidden. Nobody had seen one across the universe for several centuries.

    In the several hundred years since its last use, the tower had once again fallen into disrepair. The many levels of the tower had started to collapse in on one another, and patches of the ceiling were missing. Nothing lived in the tower anymore.

    Nothing living anyways.

    Even in the state of disrepair that the tower was falling into, one undead sorcerer still reigned. Lonely in the top parts of the tower, it constantly searched for a way to kill itself. Day after day, if such things as time existed in the tower, passed, and still he found no answer.

     One day however, the God�s Finger fell into his lap and he died for good instantly. And to this day, he is said to be the protector of the Finger, until it leaves to fulfill its role in the fate of the universe.

1 millennium later

    The monstrous doors creaked open at the base of the tower, and a lone figure cloaked in a dark red cloak walked in. With a wave of his arm, every torch in the tower flared to life, incinerating the dust upon it, and creating a horrid smell besides. With a fling of an arm, the red robes were now lying, folded, across the clothing rack in the corner of the lobby.

    The light flowed across the man�s face, his short, spiky blue hair and golden eyes shone brightly. With skin a dark tan color, he was easily confused for Hilian. Nobody, not even the man himself, knew where he originated. The only thing to set him apart in a crowd of Hilian was the jagged scar running from the top of his left eye to the center of his chin.

    But all who saw him suddenly had an urge to hide, and often ran in terror, despite his somewhat noble look. Sliding a finger across the scar, he walked across the room, and open the door to the stairwell. Up, and up, and up he climbed, until he reached the same level as the dead sorcerer. As he neared the room, the stairwell crumbled away beneath his foot.

    Without even dropping at all, he kept walking up the steps, even though they could no longer support him. When he reached the door, he stopped and read the runes inscribed on it. Laughing at the elementary guarding runes, he shoved the door open and walked through, ignoring the electricity that was vaulting through his body.

    One look at the dead skeleton and the man bellowed, not just in anger, but also in shock. With a curse, he turned around and stormed out of the room. As suddenly as they had been lit, every torch in the tower was extinguished and the man was bathed in darkness.




_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_




    Kai ran through the hallways of her now inoperable starship, shouting curses as she ran. The Hilian raiders they had run into on their way to Flingeis had taken a grudge against them, and as revenge they had waited a while before they struck back. This time, however, the Hilians would not take prisoners.

    The Hilian were a warlike race of beings that looked like a human with tan colored skin and a typically dark colored hair. The one thing that made the Hilian different from humans was the fact they could not bear any sort of scar, since any cut they had healed instantly. Therefore, it was stupid to get into a fight with one with a sword as you weapon.
    As Kai ran, she pulled her grij out of the holster on her back. Once equipped to deal death at the touch of a button, the grij couldn�t work where science was not allowed. Now she used it as a staff, since its rod-like shape let her use it as one.

    She slammed the end of it into the Hilian running towards her, and the shock traveled up her arms. This one was wearing armor and didn�t even feel the hit. still traveling on, it ran into her and tackled her to the floor. Once on the ground it pulled out it�s dagger and stabbed at her.

    Kai rolled her head at the moment the dagger slammed into the metal beneath her. She brought her knee up to kick it in the crotch, and felt the connection and a crunch. As the Hilian on top of her began moaning in pain, Kai guessed that it was a male. Throwing him off of her she continued running towards her room.

She burst through the door and looked all over for the key to the bridge. With a start, she realized that the key was stolen. She cursed loudly, and ran back out the door.


_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_


    The man sat in the darkness, holding a sphere of light in front of him so hat he could read the books of lore the tower contained.  He heard, no, heard is too physical a word, felt the visitor come into the tower. The light in his hand suddenly disappeared and he walked out of the room.


    The dark man walked out of the tower, and the door slammed behind him. He cried into the night, �Tranroch! I will get the artifact, and you can not stop me!�

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