September 20, 2008

Creation of the Faeball
by Kwetak

I was there when the Faeball was created. Marious and Koin of the Silver Crescent had been plotting the merging of fae magic, rae magic, gold, and human blood (for buoyancy) for many long hours and eighty-nine attempts when Koin suggested that such a complex spell must first take the form of a sphere.

Marious formed a sphere of gold, and infused it with both the fae and rae magic, but to no avail- the magic simply flowed out of the sphere and dissipated into the surrounding air. Koin asked, "Marious, did you put a containment spell on top of the sphere spell before you tried the duplication spell?" His question was met with a blank stare. He continued, "I would try to make a perfect sphere of this rae-fae-gold and then try to duplicate it. Perfection is a funny thing, impossible to make on Earth but here even a simple apprentice mage can make a perfect sphere with a constricting containment spell."

Marious sinks down into thought for a moment, then applies the constricting containment spell to the orb - miraculously, it hovers as a single entity! Marious says, "My old friend, you may save this day yet! Why Vryce put me in charge of this mess I do not know. Let's get to work!"

Later in the day, Marious and Koin were still working hard to create the orb with which to create ships for the war when Vryce appeared in an ear-splitting BANG! As he appeared, Marious lopped off Koin's head once again with his war axe, allowing the corpse to fall into a basin already brimming with the crimson blood of an immortal. Marious resurrected Koin, with Vryce looking on in wonder. "A hundred deaths should be enough." Koin massaged his neck where the war axe had lopped his head clean off ninety-nine times before the last. He turned with Marious to look at the supplies they had gathered: a containment field filled with pure rae, another filled with fae, and a large container of gold dust. Next to the bench was the basin filled with Koin's blood. Koin smiles and Marious, wasting no time said, "Well here goes..."

Marious levitates the fae, rae, and gold together, just like he had time and time before. Marious then crafts a spell so that when an immortal holds the sphere, an identical one will appear in the other hand. This way, it would only take days to make enough frae for a thousand ships, since it duplicates every five seconds. With a wave of his hand the containment field begins to shrink, forming a solid golden ball infused with the magic. Suddenly, everyone present gasps- the power within the sphere has begun to increase too fast! "The power must be released!" Marious cries. "The power needs a way out!"

Marious reaches out with his right hand - not to hold the ball, but to gather some quick information- and gently brushes the ball ...

At that moment I halted, breathing deeply, and set down my wagon. What was that strange breeze? I looked towards the City of Medievia, its spires looming in the distance ... The ground shakes, the air screeches as every bit of fae and rae magic in the world is sucked towards the unstable, newly-created unity of fae and rae, sending me sprawling and weak. My appaloosa whinnies, tearing at the reigns- I knew something had gone wrong with the experiment.

Marious' mind was reeling from the shock and from the strain of trying to find a way to release the energy without destroying the world before the ball went off. Just the smallest imperfection ... Vryce appeared once again in an ear-splitting BANG! a look in his eyes that could slay the mightiest of dragons with a glance. Time seemed to slow down as Marious reached out and grasped the ball with both hands, quickly but carefully. Marious' feet rose up off the floor, and Vryce drew his sword. The ball touches Marious' belt buckle, and the world is set ablaze.

I look up, shocked and awed by the fire in the sky. All of the world had been set ablaze with magical fire! Birds took flight to fly above the smoke, out of harms way, but the rest of the world was doomed to face the inferno. The fire turned both sky and water a fiery red from the glow of the wilderness burning, and I took shelter under my wagon, helpless. To make matters worse, a moment later the great king of dragons, Zeksagmak, returned from the dead, soared overhead, belching dragonfire and delighting in the destruction below. How it could have returned I could not know, and everything faded to black ...