Chapter 1: Esme and Pan
“Who are you?” asked Pan, shifting into a defensive stance.
“My name is Esme of the Sacred Pillars. I am a Geomancer and, like you, I am a Green Wizard. I come to ask for your aid, Wizard #3282, nothing more,” said the blue-skinned wizard facing him. The Shaman eyed her warily, clutching his forked Dumb Stick in one hand. His plague rat quivered at his side, looking askance at Esme’s familiar Aurora.
The Shaman had the majestic antlers and head of a stag and, though her sudden appearance had startled him, he exuded a tranquil power that seemed interwoven with his forest surroundings. His voice was deep and true, seeming to take root in the mulch on the forest floor and grow, taking on a life of its own.
“I have business to attend to. Even now my comrades are converging on the beast; without my help…”
Esme cut him off, speaking with rising urgency: “Your friends will cope, Shaman. I have seen Thaumaturge Akron’s visions of the future in the scattered sand – temples tumbling amongst the rocks, flames engulfing the seven guilds, and countless wizards burnt as heretics. Time and again I have witnessed these events and more unfold…”
She slammed her fist into her palm as she continued, lips quivering at the thought of Wizard #3922, brutally assassinated by his own disciples. “The world will turn to ruin beneath the rule of the Celestials if you refuse to join me, but the visions have shown that whenever you put your faith in me we prevail. Together the Emerald Rangers can put a stop to this genocide and return the Temple to the true Astral magicians.”
Isaac had been like a second father to Esme growing up on the mount below the Sacred Pillars, even after she had embraced the Green guild. As a young woman, Esme had visited the Yellow Wizard several times at the Temple of the Falling Stars, where he had served as High Priest for so many years. When the Elders at the Sacred Pillars had informed her of the coup, she had been ready to storm the Temple on her own, before the Thaumaturge intervened with his visions of the alternate futures that could come to pass, and set her off on this journey to find the Shaman.
“The Celestials are coming for our kind, Pan! I have travelled far to see you… let me show you. The Thaumaturge has infused my staff with some of his visions.” She pulled her emerald staff off her back and sat cross-legged on the ground. The spiked crest of red hair that ran over the centre of her scalp fluttered in the whispers of wind that blew through the small clearing. Aurora bounded over and hopped into her lap and Esme placed one hand on the rabbit’s soft fur, laying her staff on the ground beside her.
Pan hesitated, yet found himself sitting down to face her. As Esme began to speak, she twirled her fingers in Aurora’s fur, tracing the outlines of the Rune of Fire; the emerald in the head of her staff emitted a dull glow that painted itself across the Shaman’s face as green fire leaped up from the gemstone. The Shaman blinked in surprise, eyes widening as images began to dance in the flames. When the visions faded, Esme watched him silently. After a moment, Pan took a deep breath, and raised his eyes to meet hers. “It seems I have no choice, but we must go and find Eric and Baird. I am sure that they, too, will want to lend their support.”
Esme eyed him intently. “We can try, Pan. I must warn you, though, they have their destiny, and you have yours. For the moment, these fates do not intertwine, but… it is clear that you will need to see for yourself. Come!”
With that she stood and beckoned him to follow as she strode out of the clearing in the direction of the river.
Chapter 2: The Emerald Rangers
Wizard #2875 surveyed the scene below from the thick branches high in an ancient Silver Bark. The beast knocked the first Battle Mage flying, then veered towards the other one, who had no time to unleash his rune before the creature was upon him. It slashed downwards with its cruelly hooked beak and the wizard was forced to throw himself backwards into the long grass that hugged the riverbank.
The beast let out a sharp cry and raised a muscular hind, ready to stamp down on its adversary, but the two familiars appeared simultaneously, springing at the lizard-like animal from either side. Flexing the one leg that remained on the ground the beast sprang between them with startling speed, launching itself straight over the wizard’s head and bounding off into the forest with the black wolf and shaggy brown dog in pursuit.
Akron turned his attention to the other Battle Mage. Baird was running flat out after the large blue and white egg being swept towards the falls along the narrow but powerful river. His red-bearded companion got groggily to his feet, saw Baird hurtling off down the wooded slope, and immediately set off after his friend, whistling for his familiar to join him.
Akron smiled with satisfaction. If his divinations were correct, that story would play out in the lower reaches of the river, where its banks broadened and the waters settled into a more meandering route through the tangled forests of The Thorn. The Thaumaturge would have plenty of time to catch up to Baird and Eric, once he had verified that the seed planted with the Geomancer, Esme, had taken root.
He leant back against the sturdy trunk of the Silver Leaf and waited, enjoying the incessant rumble of the water and the faint veil of mist drifting across his face even here, high above the falls.
The sun was well past its zenith when the Shaman burst out of the trees on the far side of the river with his plague rat in tow, closely followed by Esme and her dirt rabbit. He cast about the scene, examining the areas of trampled grass, then followed the footprints along the muddy trail that ran next to the river.
“They went this way, Esme. If we hurry, maybe we can catch them!”
Despite the roar of the nearby falls, Pan’s words carried clearly to the finely-tuned ears of Sowilō, Akron’s dirt rabbit, who crouched in the long grass beneath the Silver Bark. Thanks to the bond with his familiar, Akron heard the Shaman as if the rabbit’s ears were his own.
Esme stopped, her eyes narrowing as she eyed the bushes to Pan’s right. She put a finger to her lips and inclined her head in the direction of the bushes. From his vantage point in the towering Silver Bark, Akron could see the lizard-like creature making its way stealthily through the undergrowth, creeping up to Pan and Esme.
The two wizards whirled around in unison as the creature sprang silently from the cover of the trees, its razor-sharp beak poised for a killing blow. Without fully understanding why, the Shaman raised his Dumb Stick in front of him and channelled the forest’s energy through the gnarled wood as Esme simultaneously slammed the head of her emerald staff down into the crook of the forked stick. The emerald exploded with light, bathing the creature in a vivid green curtain of radiance.
The beast let out a cry of rage as it found itself paralysed in mid-leap and crashed to the ground. The light seemed to solidify, condensing around the beast’s static limbs, tighter and tighter, squeezing the animal, lengthening and distorting its body through a narrowing beam of light that sucked it into the stone of the Geomancer’s staff. The emerald shook violently, emitted a piercing whine, then the light faded and everything was silent, save the sound of the waterfall.
The Shaman stared in awe at the gemstone, unable to speak.
“Do you see now, Pan?” asked Esme. He nodded, then quickly crouched and spoke soft words into the ear of his plague rat. The small rodent nuzzled his hand, then scurried off down the trail, following the footprints of Eric and Baird that headed off into the forest. The Shaman rose and turned back to Esme. “Let’s go.”
Akron smiled to himself and whispered under his breath as they disappeared into the trees. “And so it begins! Another spark of life for the world of wizards”. In a flash of elven blue, the Thaumaturge summoned Sowilō, whipped his cape over his shoulder, and was gone.
Story Arc Index:
Prologue: Wizard #2875
Part 1: Wizard #3032
Part 2: Wizard #1182
Part 3: Wizard #3282
Part 4: Wizard #3916
Part 5: Wizard #2550
Part 6: Wizard #3919
Part 7: Pony #433
Entered by: 0x24D7…e52b and preserved on chain (see transaction)
