This is part #2 of this story. To read the first part, head to Wizard #1228

Shaman Adrienne of the Isle

The waves lightly crashed against the rocks, sending a soft salty mist into the air. Adrienne sat calmly next to Kattu, holding a long rod, waiting for a bite. It was the life she had desired since leaving the old home in the valley – a peaceful, calm existence with routine and great company. Her desire to be near water was something not understood by the rest of her family, and she though that was what had caused the rift. Either way, she was here now, and was happy, even though there was still a scar deep inside from that fateful night.

Her mind wandered, as it usually did in these peaceful moments to her conversation with Gunter the Wise earlier. Gunter was a short, stout man who many on the Isle came to for advice. He had been here longer than even Aldo himself, and no one quite knew where he had come from. No one dared ask what ethnicity he was – that was viewed as taboo and would likely get one smitten immediately from none other than Gunter’s parrot which sat upon his broad shoulder and was nearly as tall as Gunter himself. Gunter was always talkative and had taken a liking to Adrienne when she first arrived at Aldo’s Isle. He found it fascinating that she had left a family of four sisters with a loving father to live alone on an island and asked her daily about her childhood with nary a response from Adrienne. This day was not like the rest, however. He was aloof and seemed to have no interest in speaking with Adrienne at any length as any sort of conversation attempt was met with a “hrumph”.

It must have been hours she sat there thinking, as no fish were biting on this day, and she was startled out of her daydream by a tap on the shoulder. “How dare someone disturb me now, especially when I am in the middle of the daily hunt” she mumbled to herself as she turned to see a strange, but familiar face looking at her.

“Good afternoon, sister”, said the face as Adrienne strained to think about who it could be. It had been years since she had seen her family, and she was stunned at the word sister as she thought she had made it painfully clear she never wanted to see them again. Deep in her heart, a warm feeling began but her instinct was to not let it show.

“What are you doing here, and how did you get on this isle?”. Adrienne said, barely remembering Astrid as a child and struggling to accept the fact that her baby sister was now a young adult.

“On the wind, Adrienne, I’ve learned to – “

“Stop. Tell me why you have come. I was very clear to father that none of you were to come find me, and I took care to hide my location from even him when I left.” Adrienne said coldly.

Astrid was taken aback. She had only heard stories about Adrienne’s bravery and loyalty from her father and was too young when her sister left to remember anything else. Her opinion of her sister was a glowing one, and to hear her speak rudely and not open an embrace was almost like daggers into her heart. Perhaps it was the optimist in Astrid that left her so vulnerable to pain, or perhaps it was her father that had shielded her from pain after the family had splintered, but either way, the greeting Astrid received, and the disappearance of her father was enough for her to break down in tears.

“Father sob is sob gone.” Astrid was able to make out in between the water pouring from her eyes and her choked up throat.

Adrienne felt a little bit guilty inside, but her childhood instinct came back to her, and a little voice inside implored her to show no weakness. The mere thought of what could have happened to her father kept her attention, however.

“Come,” Adrienne said. “I will take you to my shack near town. There you can tell me the real reason as to why you have come here.”

Adrienne picked up her pail that she was using to collect her fish – it was empty. She normally had a dozen or so at this point, and between the daydreaming and Astrid’s arrival, she did not even realize that the pail had collected no sustenance. An ominous feeling suddenly draped her in fear, and her steps moved a little bit faster moving back to the shack.

Close to the end, Adrienne nearly broke out in a run, but it was child’s play for Astrid to keep up. Astrid was always the fast one, nimbler than the other sisters, and if it wasn’t for the short shadow of Gunter near the shack, the sisters may have performed a friendly competition like old times.

“Ah, there you are,” Gunter said quizzically, “And who might this be? She needs to leave.”

Adrienne was somewhat hurt. She had only been just reacquainted with blood, and despite her cold demeanor, her heart was warming a bit. Someone she respected and looked up to ending a relationship that had not even begun was another jarring emotion she was not prepared to deal with at this moment. Normally a reserved person, she offered up nearly more information unsolicited to Gunter than he had been able to pry out of her on her days on the island.

“This is my baby sister I left alone, she managed to find me despite my attempts to remain hidden to let me know that our father had disappeared. She will stay.”

“Hmm. So be it.” Gunter said as he opened the door to Adrienne’s shack. “Come, we must talk.”

The three sat down and Gunter pulled a scroll from his pocket. Astrid saw a wax insignia and shouted, “That is Merlin’s mark!”

“Yes child, I received this directly from the Council of Thirteen.” Gunter solemnly said.

Adrienne was astounded – she had heard her father mention the Council a couple of times, and knew they were involved in many dealings of wizards around the world. Even crazier to her was the fact that her young sister knew the mark was from Merlin. The room started to spin for her – she had taken such care to remove herself from the trials of life, only to find out that Gunter had a direct connection to one of the most powerful wizard organizations in the Runiverse.

Gunter continued. “The scroll speaks of a warning. An immense magical pulse was detected just north of the Blue Wizard Bastion. It seems to have subsided for now, however multiple livestock have gone missing in the last few days. The council would request each region be placed on guard, with wizards and warriors ready to travel to assist if need be.”

Astrid spoke up and described the case of her father’s disappearance and the mysterious figure that had spoken to him before he vanished. Adrienne, despite her perfect tranquil life being destroyed that she had so dutifully created, knew she must help. She agreed to accompany Astrid on the journey to find their father, and as the conversation was wrapping up, Gunter chimed in,

“Before you leave, Adrienne, there is something you must know. Your father met with me before you arrived here on the isle. He knew this is the spot you would choose and handed me this feather. He told me to only give it to you when absolutely necessary – I believe that time is now. The figure you speak of Astrid is a Darkling. I have only heard of such in stories and lore in the past. If Darklings are making themselves apparent to regular folk, evil must really be upon us.”

As Gunter was finishing up his sentence, Kattu began to growl at the door and the hair on his back stood straight up. The trio had been speaking for such an extended period, none of them had noticed the brightness of the day fade to pitch black. The waves from afar could be heard crashing hard on the rocks now, despite no apparent wind – the few trees between the shack and the shore were stationary. Gunter slowly stood up and instructed the girls to stay back. The portly fellow opened the door, and a rush of thick darkness began to enter into the room almost similar to thick smoke. As the darkness took hold, parts of Adrienne’s shack began to crumble and fall. Gunter began to chant loudly, which pushed the miasma back for a moment. He stopped for a moment to shout to the sisters paralyzed by fear, “GO, YOU BUFFOONS”.

Adrienne grabbed Kattu, and began to run to the back door, but she was quickly snatched up and into the air by Astrid who had retrieved the feather. The shack was crumbling now, so quickly that apertures began to increase in size in the roof and shadow poured through them. Adrienne was terrified, but it was her young sister who kept the cool head this time. Astrid conjured the magic of the wind to repel most of the black from around the pair. A quick gust made a small enough gap for her to see a possible escape. Astrid zipped the duo out of the hole in the roof as the darkness engulfed Gunter in a chorus of screeches and wails, echoing the sounds of those who had been consumed in prior lifetimes. The shack was nothing more than a pile of dust at this point as Astrid and Adrienne soared higher into the air; Astrid chose a direction and flew as fast as she could on the back of the feather. As they gained altitude and were safely away, Adrienne looked back in horror at Aldo’s Isle, which appeared as it always did – serene and peaceful.

Entered by: 0x180f…8d57 and preserved on chain (see transaction)