Erlem

Erlem muttered to himself as he tried to figure out the door to which he needed to use to leave this wretched castle. He had to be careful, he didn't know where the elves slept and did not want to walk into where ever that was while trying to escape their very clutches.

He stared at each door for a while, they were all pretty much the same. they had rusted door knobs and the red paint had all cracked with age, and each had a picture of some sort hand carved with beautiful detail most likely done by some elvish craftsman.

Erlem had almost decided to just pick one at random when he noticed the door with a beautiful sun carved in it had a slight draft coming through from underneath it. The air was warm and didn't smell of stale earth. Erlem ran to another door, this one had the symbol of a moon and the air behind it was still, he checked the last door, this one had a group of swallows standing on a branch engraved on it. There was also no airflow there, and the door itself made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

This was the same feeling as he had gotten when he passed the stairway leading downward the night before. Erlem figured the airflow had to mean that was the way outside. The other doors most likely went further into the castle away from the big doors to the courtyard.

He opened the door to a long dark hallway, it was still enchanted by the fire opals hidden in its depths. There were once again no windows in these halls and they all looked exactly the same making it difficult to figure out where you were. Erlem was not in the mood for the tricks of the opals any longer and just blasted the hallway with lightning blasts until the true hallway finally appeared.

It was similar to the other hallways, it went in a big square but only had two doors, Erlem decided to go where the air flow was the strongest. Continuing his assault on the magic meant to trick him into never leaving. Everywhere he went he left the ground littered in shattered opal fragments until he finally entered the main hall of the castle.

Erlem hadn't been there since his first night, it was still large and brilliant, the sunlight came inthrough the cracks in the massive red curtain casting a large shadow across the marble floor. The main door out was barred and shackled but Erlem noticed there was a small door off to the side most likely used by the girls to travel the grounds at night.

Erlem wanted to destroy whatever opals were left in the main hall but thought better of it, he had pushed his luck with the hallways but with freedom so close he didn't feel it would be smart if he caused a ruckus in a room with such good acoustics.

He ran to the door that led outside and found it to be locked.

For good measure he tried a lock picking spell but as he suspected it was useless. Erlem would have to use a much more powerful spell to get through. Then he noticed the gap underneath the door was much larger than any other door in the castle. He lowered him self cocking his head so he was almost upside down so he could see a shadow ending right outside the door.

"here goes nothing."

Erlem focused on the shadow and attempted to hop into it. What happened wasn't like shadow hopping as Erlem had ever attempted before. Usually you could only hop into the shadow if you can hop into it physically, Erlem was attempting to teleport into the shadow. He had heard that mature Autumn witches could teleport into and out of the shadows almost instantly. Erlem had never attempted it before but now was as good a time as any to try.

He felt weird, as he focused on the shadow under the door a jerking motion that felt as though it was pulling him by the navel, everything was blurry for an amount of time Erlem was uncertain about, it could have been a millisecond but felt like a lifetime.

when everything came back into focus Erlem was sort of swimming in a pool of darkness, there were dark waves moving about him and above him was a circular portal. He moved towards it almost levitating through the darkness. The portal was more like a window that showed the area he had entered, as he looked around the portal he noticed more, thousands more appeared throughout this sea of shadows. Erlem realized he had succeeded, he had entered the shadow sea and could move freely through the shadows.

Erlem tried to shout with joy but the sound was muffled but it didn't matter to Erlem, he had escaped that dreadful castle and he was certain that the evil in it couldn't follow him in the shadows. He levitated through the sea looking for a portal that would leave him in front of the citadel but sadly even the sea of shadows had a limit. The mages pass was enchanted so Autumn witches couldn't shodow-port in and out as they please. A giant ethereal wall was holding back the sea of shadows, it stood tall and luminescent, Erlem could feel its power hold him back as well.

Erlem chose a shadow portal that sat on the edge of the plague swamp, He wanted to put as many miles between him and the castle as possible. He popped out of the shadows and onto the Long road. Barefoot and in his night robes with his brown leather bag slung over his shoulder he looked like an odd dwarf beggar.

No one bothered a beggar, they had nothing to take but their lives which were essentially worthless. Erlem was dirty and had cuts on his feet, the dirt on his face made him look older than he was. Erlem tightened the rope that held his robes closed, he was not wearing undergarments and the last he wanted to be was walking around with his prick in the wind.

Erlem didn't have any provisions or supplies either, no maps to see where a town could be close by. He wasn't sure what was going to await him up the long road to the mages pass. Last time he was was in this area it was a warzone and the mages had blasted the roads with arcane magic. He wasn't sure if there even were villages left standing. It had been a few months since Erlem and Daisy had traveled the long road in any capacity, near the end they had decided to stay in their wood to search for food.

The northern most part of Thr'ea had not been the battleground for the war after the citadel sent their arcane storm across Thre'a killing companies of royal soldiers as it went over head before wiping the capitol city La'velle off the map. The fighting had stayed out in the less inhabited areas to curb innocent lives lost, the farmlands south between the edges of the plague swamps to the edge of the shifting sands of the dusky desert had been ravaged by the war.

Bodies were being burned all across the southern plainlands by the hundreds, dark plumes of smoke had made it look as if a fog had taken hold over the area. There were still scars across the North of the attacks that had happened previously, large craters and of course the ruins of old Autumnveil still reminded the mages of Thre'a why the human kings could no longer govern them.

Erlem knew there were a hundred miles between him and the citadel and he would not make it if he didn't have supplies and the right clothes. He wasn't going to be able to climb the treacherous pathways without boots and he coulnt spend weeks without food. He needed a village or city and he had no idea where he could find one.

He knew he needed to be away from the woods before nightfall and that dusk was nipping at his heels. Blud'heim would not just let Erlem get away so easily, he would should send his servants to bring him back. The citadel was the safest place Erlem could be if those elves were going to hunt him.

" I still have magic." He assured himself that he was better off going forward until nightfall and he could hide somewhere for the night. So he decided to go forward towards the mages pass, he was going to stay to the shadows in case highway robbers or slavers were also walking these roads.

Erlem hopped into the shadows disappointed he couldn't use his new found ability on the mages path. He hopped along the shadows making his travel much faster than if by foot or horse but nor fast enough for Erlem, he wanted to be behind the walls of the citadel as fast as he could.

after a couple hours the light had started to dim as dusk began to paint the sky the oranges and reds and purples as the sun began to set. No doubt his captors had noticed his absence, he left quite a bit of a mess behind. Erlem picked up the pace, he wanted to reach the entrance to the mages path before the moon rose. Only mages could enter the mages path alone, humans needed a mage to be with them in order to travel without the many enchantments and curses dealing with them.

The citadel was truly a sanctuary for the magical set up thousands of year ago by the worlds first mage and the elves. Humans had control over the continent next to the elves, after the elves elft the human began a crusade to take out magic from the land. Massive armies were raised on the humans behalf while the mages were so few they decided to just cut off the citadel and its cities from them.

Only as mages began to become more abundant did the citadel create its own government to govern those inside their walls, there small city and tower meant for learning eventually grew to a metropolis housing thousands of mages. The tower itself had been enchanted by over a hundred powerful mages throughout the years which allowed it to become the endless tower it was now.

Erlem came to the pass in complete darkness, night had taken hold and Erlem had been forced to walk the last few miles. He decided he would make camp just beyond the pass to be safe, As long as he was on this side of the rock formations that made up the archway that connected to the road to the citadel.

"you would think the worlds greatest magical minds would have came up with an archegate by now."

Erlems feet were sore, he was still without shoes and his arcane boots only lasted a short time, not as short as it was when he was in astral form but still pretty short. He passed through the archway(which was lit up with torches that seemed to be magical on their own) and stepped off the side of the road where there was a nice patch of plush grass. He decided to make a small fire that he lit with magic, he had found a small log not too far from his fire and he decided to pull it over and use it as a place to sit.

"too bad I don't have any marshmallows or sausages, its a good night to eat under the stars."

Erlem just sat and watched the fire crackle and pop as it burned, it was a magical fire so Erlem didn't have to feed it wood to keep it going, but every now and then he would find a stick nearby and he would toss it in to watch it burn. Out of the corner of his eye he though he saw something in the distance on the other side of the archway, he shrugged it off as a shadow dancing from the glow of his fire until he heard the crunch of the dirt and leaves in that same direction.

Erlem jumped to his feet clenching his fists prepared to have to defend himself, The figure stayed out of the light of the fire clinging to the shadows. It moved so quickly anyway even with the light of the fire all Erlem could catch a glimpse of was just a blur of motion just out of reach of his eyesight.

"Durah?Myra?Direth?" he called their names to no answer, just more motion outside the archway as whatever it was checked around the gate. Erlem had enough of whatever games this thing was playing, if it wasn't the elves of Blud'heim then what else was chasing after him.

Erlem moved closer to the front of the archway to find three hooded figures standing on the other side, their eyes were shining bright green like eerie lanterns beckoning his soul to follow them.

" Hello my boy, you left so abruptly I feared for your safety." Direths voice was still as charming as ever, only now there was a slight murderous tone that went along with it like a predator who just lost his prey.

" I feared for my safety. You should know, when you decide to kill an autumn witch you should make sure her daemon is gone as well."

Direth laughed, "my dear boy i told you already, your mother was helping me with an important task. She is with me now. Myra bring Daisy to see her son."

Myra's green eyes lit up the area in their green light, she was holding a chain and pulling something that was fighting her on the other end. A ear piecing shriek filled the air as Myra came closer to the archway, Behind her a fourth pair of neon green eyes came into view. the figure was sort of crawling on the ground like an animal but was cloaked as well.

Myra pulled the figure into the moonlight revealing a whimpering contorted creature. Her legs and arms were twisted and deformed making her have to move like a wounded animal . Her skin was porcelain white while her face was hidden under a cloak that was tied around her neck with a silver rope. Smoke rose from the thick silver chain as if it were burning her. The whimpering told Erlem it was a girl under the cloak, even though she didn't speak she did scream whenever Myra pulled the rope jerking her forward. Durah grabbed the hood yanking it down revealing Daisy's face. It looked ghastly, her skin was white and her eyes were black and sunken in, her black she was missing a large chunk of her throat as if it had been bitten through and blood continued to trickle from the wound.

She locked eyes with Erlem and screamed again this time leaping towards him, luckily the archway did its job and sent her tumbling backwards. Daisy huddled next to Myra's leg whimpering, the wall had broken her nose and blood began to flow down her face which made her look even more frightening.

"Daisy! what is wrong with her! what did you do Direth!"

smiling his sinister smile Direth pulled down his own hood so the light could reveal the blood that had dried across his face and down the front of his robes.

"She belongs to me now Erlem. I told you she was not dead and i did not lie. Rather she's undead i suppose."

"Enough! I do not want to hear anymore of your lies! That creature only looks like Daisy. My mother would never attempt to hurt me, what you have there is an inferi or wraith! A devil that just resembles her!"

Erlem had to fight the urge to cross the archway and try to save the creature that resembled his mother, He held back the heavy weight of the tears as they fought for freedom. Direth who's smile was no longer charming, and his features seemed less handsome, less elvish, just stood their laughing as Daisy crawled to him rubbing her face on his legs. " why not just come back with me, You and your mother can stay together in the castle with us. Be a family forever Erlem, wouldn't you like that." He used his sweetest voice, which to Erlem made him sound pompous and rediculous.

"I don't really know that you are. A Devil, an Elf, it doesn't really matter. One day i will come back to castle Blud'heim, but it will be to rid the realm of you. The last thing you will ever see is me before you go back to whatever hell you came from " Erlem was crying as he yelled his threats at Blud'heim, a bright blue flame engrossed his body, the bed robes he was still wearing began to burn away. The flames turned the silks and cotton into ash but the flames kept his nudity too hard to see. His eyes had gone black as they did in the plague swamps against the goblins.

Direths face has stopped being charming, the smile he was originally sporting melted away to a hard face. He looked on intensely unable to really do much more than watch or leave and he had no plans on leaving quit yet. The fire had him perplexed, it was a blue fire, or it was but before his eyes the flames turned black as ink and Erlem was long in it.

A piercing screech came from the flames but it wasn't a wretch of pain, but the anger of something much more dangerous than himself. " we must flee!" Direth screamed as he kicked Daisy away and tried to run away, The fire engulfing Erlem exploded in a treacherous boom and black stream of fire shot in his direction. Durah scream and threw herself in from of her master, her body caught the blunt of the fire and she immediately began to burn. The fire ravaged the elf, her green eyes swallowed by the flames as they reduced her to cinders, she hit the ground and became ash making no sound as she hit the ground.

Myra screamed as Durahs ashes sunk into the grass, the fire had burned every thing to ash, including the fire opal encrusted necklace she had been wearing. Direth had taken off in a flash of red light down the path away from the black fire covered Erlem and the twisting snakelike flame that seem to have eyes that were following him. Myra dragged Daisy, who fought the whole way as she too tried to make an escape.

Erlems flames died down and then disappeared completely as he fell to the ground naked as the day he was born unconscious on the side of the mages pass smoke and steam rising off his body as he lay.