"What do you want?" He said to me.
"You're unlike many of the sages that frequent these old halls. What brings you here?" I said, seeing now that I was close that I was many years his senior.
"I don't see it as any of your business." He replied, pushing a few strands out of his face. I could see now his amber colored eyes, which burned like the core of the sun.
Before I responded, I noticed the tomes he was reading. Upon the page was the illustration of an ancient balrog, a demon of the elder days. "Not the lightest of reading, young man."
Kazmehr nodded. "Are you familiar with this subject?"
"Only with the legends that circulate through the towns." I lied.
"Then what good are you?" He returned to his reading. I saw that I wasn't going to get anything from him and left. But this was not the last time I saw the man. Every day I returned I saw him, and the stacks of books around him grew.
Eventually I gained his trust, and this was the story he told me: I was once a farmer, living in peace with my wife and child, in a village north of Britain. We were a peaceful people, not knowing or caring much for the outside world. But like many who keep themselves sheltered, the world eventually finds them. Orcs and other beasts came down from the hills and began burning villages. Soon they would reach ours. We petitioned for aid from the Britanian soldiers, but they were busy with problems of their own. In the twilight of my family's last hours, I went into the fields and prayed for aid. I had never prayed before, and I did not expect an answer, to be truthful. But an answer I received, though it was not what I had expected.
As I knelt in the black earth, I heard a voice as dark as the soil around me. "I hear your prayers." The voice said. "Who are you?" I replied as I strained my eyes through the darkness to see a creature blacker than the night. The creature seemed as a void, absorbing the moonlight into its features. Only two things were certain, it was the size of a giant, and its eyes glowed a menacing red. "I have the power, the power to grant your wish. If you agree to my terms, I can save your family." In the distance I could almost hear the sound of slavering orcs burning and pillaging. The weight of panic and fear filled my bosom; I panicked and agreed. "Whatever can save my family." The creature growled a terrible laugh. "As you wish." He said. I immediately felt I had made a mistake, regretting my decision, but soon I felt power flow through me. I had never dreamed of feeling such power. I felt as if I could pull the plow myself with power greater than my own horse.
A large band of orcs reached my village. I stood before them defiantly and heard their guttural slurs mocking me and laughing at me. They charged and in that moment I felt the very fires of hell leap out from my being, engulfing the marauding orcs. When the fires left, there were only smoldering heaps. But the fire still roared within my veins. My life had changed after that moment. Stories of sorcerous powers protecting my village kept the rest of the marauders from invading. I could not control the powers I had unleashed within me. I burned my home; I had become the marauder I had bargained to protect against. After the blood lust had passed and the fires subsided I regained my mind and stood before the charred remains of my own home. I saw my wife and child dead, burned by my very hands. Furthermore, I could no longer feel the power in my veins. I had been abandoned. Again, the dark laugh crawled over my skin and I saw the black demon standing behind me. "You have done well!" The creature bellowed. "Well!? I have killed my family! You have tricked me!"
"Tricked you? Nay, young farmer, I have done what you wanted. You stopped the orcs from invading." He laughed. "No, I have killed my family. I wanted to protect my family! I have killed them." "And that is my fault?" The demon roared. "Ah, but I tire of arguing. It is true, I have tricked you, and done so for my own amusement. You sought to protect your family, and became their truest threat. Live now, forever in your guilt, young human." The beast laughed and dissipated like mist in the wind. Black smoke like tendrils drifted in the wind until they receded into nothing.
I left my home that day, and did not return for many years. I made the resolve to find the creature that tricked me and exact my revenge. I noticed that the power he had given me, though it had waned severely, still flowed in my veins. I had the gift of magic. And that is why I am here in Moonglow. I am training and studying for the day when I find this black demon again. When I do, I will be ready.
-
I left Kazmehr that day alone, the weight of his story pressing upon my soul a guilt I had not felt in some time. I understood now the reason for the fire in his eyes.
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