The Shadow Stone

  Imagine a color you’ve never seen before. Now imagine what it would look like if something projected that color, now imagine that the human eye and mind can’t grasp that color, that is the Shadow, that is the object that when seen looks to be both a hole in the universe and glowing darkness at the same time. It is said that among the seven orbs of trials that two are like this, they are among the forbidden four, hidden away so that none of the Academy of Wizardry may make a contract with the spirits beyond those doors.

    Adrian was nothing special, the son of an herb mage and a healer, typical small town shops in this region of Jenna, what with adventurers constantly journeying about fighting the Mystic Monsters that appear and infect wide areas. Adrian already knew what to expect of the Academy of Wizardry; everyone who attends starts off with basic classes on the principles of magic, given the typical warnings of what may come to pass, and are all taught the same basic classes. Beyond that they can decide on a focus, usually herbal magic, healing, and enchanting items, all talents there is a demand for and can make the wizard money. Most Wizards don’t continue beyond that point, after all advanced healers can become assist mages for adventurers, enchanters are sought after for blessing items and creating magic items and stones and such, and herbal mages make potions to sell. Adrian however knew from watching the adventurer teams pass through his parents’ shops that there were also offense mages, he had even seen them in action, casting fire balls and shocker bolts and even saw one once cast a shadow entangle.

     His parents wanted him to grow up into a healer, for a man usually meaning making cure and antidote potions and specializing in making the potions and machines to run at a hospital or herb shop. This is his life to live he decided and pushed for knowing what lay beyond for those students he knew were learning attack spells and defense spells. This is how he learned of the ancient secret of the Academy of Wizardry, at orientation they had stated the school was found by a group of spell casters filling a need in the land, to combine the scattered teachings of magic of their entire world, causing the Academy to grow over time into a world renowned school, which for its own defense is why it’s also up in the sky on a solid cloud as it plays no favors to any kingdom, thus their wizards leave and may go to lands that are not exactly on the friendliest of terms. This was true of course; however there was a deeper secret behind the founding. Something he found in the archives of the school, knowledge is not secret, however there is no rule the students have to be told that it exists, he only found out thanks to asking around the upper classmen.

   [ Long ago there was a time before any human, fairy, demon, or even mystic monsters were to be found throughout the whole of Jenna. In that time this was a very different world, a world ruled by the Yogloth. They were a hideous race, unlike anything that crawls upon the land in the modern age. The Yogloth worshipped strange humanoid dragon gods, as foreign to the Yogloth as the Yogloth would be to humans. The voices of the dragon gods it’s said controlled the Yogloth, making them form societies and worship the great beasts; for these dragons it is said were so massive that they could walk among the shore and clouds at the same time.

    It happened that one day one of the dragon gods vanished from their world. No longer controlled by the dragon’s voice the Yogloth realized that the food they had been giving to the dragon could be used to feed thousands of times more than the number of their people that currently lived, that without the dragon controlling them with its voice they were free to look around at the simple huts they inhabited and the land and ponder over its resources. However the Yogloth were quick to surrender to greed and their brutal aggressions, thinking not of their race as a whole but only of themselves and immediate family. The region erupted into brutal war. Soon after the other dragon gods left, the Yogloth in their regions succumbed to the same realizations and greed. They would ravage the land, each other, and strip the seas and forests clean. The Yogloth eventually killed each other off, leaving behind a devastated world, yet a world that could still hold life, it only needed to be nurtured.

   So it happened that the seven sisters of sorcery, immortals who govern the very laws of magic came upon this world and using their magic altered the devastated landscape to their liking. They introduced new flora, new fauna, and brought forth a means to balance, introducing a plethora of sentient races and a common un-ending enemy, the mystic monsters.]

   Adrian would have to pause at this point, the ancient history sounds so weird, and the idea that the ones who healed their world and brought his and the other races here would also introduce the destructive murderous mystic monsters…he read one.

    [ The seven sisters introduced magic into the world, carving the governing rules into the world’s very spirit, and establishing the mystic items that may appear at random throughout the world to aid the sentient races they introduced. As a final gift they created the Academy of Wizardry, to seek out those talented in magic and distribute them about the world, without connections to any governing body. As a final seal of the covenant each sister left behind an orb. A mystic portal for which the higher orders of wizards may venture into a mystic realm and make a pact with the sorceress to follow her specific teachings.]

   This was what Adrian needed to know, putting aside any further reading. He would spend the next few years studying, insisting upon the path to gain this true magical power.

    ******

     Several years have passed and Adrian has earned an audience with the high wizard of the Academy, he is taken through many mysterious winding halls, beyond secret doors. Adrian makes certain to remember them all, into a cozy chamber with a door to his left. Sitting upon a ledge by a window upon a red cushion are three orbs.

   “These,” says the wise old man, “are the sorcery orbs. Touch one and you will be transported mind, body, and spirit to the realm of magic connected there. There you may pact with the spirit within, to further your connection to a specific school of magic. The one on the left is called Serenity, pact with this one and you will gain greater understandings of peace, enlightenment, and healing of all types. The one in the center we call Splendor, pact with her and you shall gain a connection with nature, magic over crops, growth, and yes basic elemental attacks. The one on the right we call Science, pact with her and you may become a great alchemist or artificer working in metals, machines, and the magical insight of the universe and how it functions. Are you ready to choose?”

   “Master,” says Adrian, “I do not mean to offend, however I read a text in the great library that said there were seven orbs?”

  The master wizard gets a forlorn expression upon his brow, “Indeed you are correct,”


  He gestures to the other door, “Beyond there are the other four, however over the years we have had no choice but to declare them forbidden magic. Those who touch them risk losing their lives, their identities, and their very humanity. Those four are terrible spirits filled with rage and destructive powers that our world needs no more of, they were crafters of the Mystic Monsters, and the magic weapons most foul, who unleashed the darker races upon Jenna in ages past. Sin, Stillness, Shadows, and Storms. They should not be trusted…”

   The wizard looks to feel ill and says, “with all due respect to their power of course; it is simply not a power meant for mortal man.”

   The wizard takes a deep breath, “now young one have you chosen your path or would you like to think it over some more. This is not something to be rushed into, your studies so far are more than enough to become a great and well-off wizard.”

  “I…” starts Adrian, “would like to think it over.”

  “Of course,” says the wise old wizard, “when you are ready you may return to this room.”

    ******

    Night comes late to a place resting above the clouds, still regardless of that everyone rests or studies for the day to come. This night however Adrian does not, he has other ambitions, a healer, an alchemist, or an herbal wizard; that is what he heard. He has not come this far and stayed this long to just become a fancier version of what he could have been two years ago if he had graduated then. He is surprised to find that there are no guards, no watchers, not even locks on the doors as he makes his way down the winding paths he had earlier.

    The room is as it had been earlier, the three orbs, only now bathing in the moon light. He checks the door that the others were stated to be behind. Its unlocked, inside he finds four orbs, yet they look different somehow as they sit upon a black cushion. One is blazing red, he is surprised the cushion is not on fire, beside is one that has a clear glassy surface yet reflects nothing and seems to give off a horrific chill negating the fiery one beside it. The third and fourth seemed to just be black, until he looks directly at them, they are like holes into an infinite abyss, swirling yet not moving. He becomes dizzy looking at them and nearly falls over, however as he tries to catch himself his hand touches one of the black orbs.

   In an instant he is no longer in the room, instead he finds himself standing in a rocky desolate landscape. It is dark yet not dark, there is no source of light nor shadows to be seen. The sky seems to be in constant motion with waves of black, blue, and grey. The land is filled with strange rock formations of a single color, he cannot tell if he can see to the horizon or just too a mountain range, yet the horizon seems too far away. He shakes it off assuming that is due to living above the clouds for years where the horizon is a daily sight.

   He waits a moment, there is no sound save for a whistling wind he cannot feel. He shouts,

“Hello! Is anyone there?”

  He wishes he hadn’t shouted as in an instant it feels as though a million million eyes are upon him, as though every knock and cranny of the rocks were watching him; yet nothing visually has changed. Just beyond the range of comprehensible hearing there is a whisper, like a thousand voices of the same voice speaking. He can tell it belongs to a woman yet can’t make out the words.

  “Who are you?” asks a loud woman’s voice making him jump, a voice seemingly coming from the sky its self.

  “I repeat,” says the voice, “who are you and how do you come to be in this place while still wearing your skin?”

  The words alarm Adrian as he answers meekly, “I…I am Adrian, a…a…wizard. I came from the Academy of Wizardry.”

  There is a pause before the voice speaks again, “From what world do you come from mortal?”

  “Jenna,” says Adrian, “there…there are orbs, they say if we touch them we can make a pact with the spirit within and…”

  “Spirit?!” thunders the voice before *laughing*.

  Adrian is truly frightened, he knows this was one of the black orbs, he does not know which orb was which however.

  “Jenna,” says the voice more calmly, “It has been many a year I believe since one of that world has sought to make a pact with I…I am no mere spirit young wizard. I do believe on your world I am called the Sorceress of Shadows. To seek my favor turn to your left and walk until you come upon a canyon. Walk through the canyon, at the end you will see a statue of myself, there you shall be given more instructions. No this however, do not deviate from your path, no matter what you see, stay upon the road, do not set a foot off of it or you shall be lost forever in the Outer Lands.”

   He had not seen it before, but now to his left and extending to his right he is standing upon a sidewalk of a road. He turns to his left and walks, the voice is gone, but he does not feel alone. He is certain he is being watched. The path is boring, for the most part. He hears from behind rocks the sounds of feminine *giggles*, the *snarls* of beasts, motion from the corner of his eyes, and *singing* of blissful tunes yet without words he understands. He ignores them utterly, not even turning to look as he knows of such tricks, monsters and spirits of his own world are well known for them.

   He stops abruptly for a canyon appears before him, a narrow path in which the road travels. He could have sworn a moment before the road ahead had simply been more wide open oblivion, now here is this. He *gulps* and continues, there is no turning back, nowhere to turn back to. The canyon walls have taken away the option to step off the path, just in case he makes it a point not to touch them. It feels like he’s been on this path for more than a day, yet he doesn’t feel hungry, thirsty, or even tired. The sky and light never change in this place. Despite the canyon walls it’s no darker on the path now than when he started. Eventually he comes to a wide circle a dead end with the road going down the middle of the circle to a massive statue. A statue of a warrior woman wearing strange armor seemingly made of bones and the carapaces of giant insects. She holds a massive broadsword aimed down before her, the hilt cupped by both hands, clawed gauntlets upon them. Upon her brow is a crown with seven high points like the rays of a sun on a goddess, the carving behind her implies long wavy hair.

   “Approach the statue,” comes the woman’s voice, this time seemingly from the statue its self rather than the sky.

  He steps up before it, looking up.

  “Bow before the statue,” says the voice.

  He bows down on one knee looking down.

 “Pledge thyself to the sorcery of shadows and souls,” says the voice.

  Adrian takes a deep breath, “I Adrian of the kingdom of Loran, on the continent of Shire, of the world of Jenna, student of the Academy of Wizardry pledge myself to the studies of sorcery, that of the shadows and the souls.”

   “Very good,” says the voice, “more than you needed to say, yet…it is well that you leave no stone unturned.”

  A shadow comes over Adrian and he crumbles to the ground in pain.

 “Do not resist,” comes the voice, “give yourself to me, body, mind, and soul.”

  Adrian tries to calm down, as he does the pain subsides, but his body feels hot as everything turns black. As he comes to the world seems more vivid, all the floaters and distortions of his eyes are gone, it is like seeing for the first time. However something is odd, he feels stronger yet he feels thinner, as he tries to stand his balance is off and long silky black hair falls around his face. He sits back, his large naked breasts bouncing and surprising him. He looks down upon his body, tracing over it with thin long nailed fingers, his body is more sensitive to his touch making him…now clearly a her, shiver. He reaches down and *eeps* not just because his penis is missing but because of whatever he touched and scratched slightly with his nail sending a jolt through his body.

  “What…happened…” he says in a higher pitched voice, he looks around not sure that was his own voice just now.

  Footsteps draw his attention, the statue is gone, and steeping down from steps that weren’t there before, with a dark tunnel behind her is a woman wearing black armor and a silver crown in the same style as the statue, her long black hair waving behind her like black mist. Her eyes are a piercing blue. She holds out her hand, manifesting a massive silver broadsword with a red sparkling gem embedded in the guard.

   “You are Adrian no-more,” says the woman, “you are now a servant of myself, Sharon, known to your world as the sorceress of shadow, or else the sorceress of souls. I am in truth a goddess before you who were once mortal.”

  Before Adrian can speak she is shot back by a black bolt from the sword striking her forehead. Adrian touches her forehead finding a gem embedded in her skull.

  “The black stone,” says Sharon, “the stone which grants mastery over Shadow, Darkness, Death, and spiritual magic. It shall remain for three human life times, a crutch…a surge protector if the term makes sense to you, so your own growing power does not destroy your new body from within. Now stand.”

   Adrian stands, awkwardly with his center of gravity, body mass, and strength altered so greatly. He is lighter, yet stronger than he has ever been before. He can feel knowledge, a comprehension more so of the powers of darkness flow into his brain from the stone. With a wave of her hand, she summons a black dress with a lacey trim over what is the sexiest body (he) has ever seen, the shadow cloth tingling him.

  Sharon summons a mirror so the new sorceress can see herself. Adrian can’t believe this magnificent creature, a succubus by any rights, is himself. He mentally notes that he has to think of himself as a “she” from now on. However, he holds the long hair in his hand and mentally shortens it to about shoulder length, shortening the bangs as well.

  “Something is missing,” says Adrian, “ah…”

  With a twirl of her delicate fingers a lacey black veil forms over her head covering the gem stone in see through material and feather like strips come down in front of the ears over the temples down the sides of her face.

  It is nearly the spitting image of a sorceress he once saw, only with a few alterations.

 “Adrian no-more,” says Adrian thinking of the magic she is now a follower of, and looking at the dark warrior goddess like Sharon.

  “Darkness,” says Adrian, “Shadows, Death, Spirits…how…nefarious…oooh…” She strikes a pose like a wicked sorceress, “I am now Nefaria!”

  No sooner are those words spoken than Nefaria is back at the Academy, appearing suddenly in the orb room with the old wizard standing there.

  “I…I told you…” says the old man, “you…you are Adrian Sonook right?”

  “Was,” says Nefaria with a seductive grin, “I am Nefaria now…sorceress of darkness, and I no longer need your school.”

  A cyclone erupts through the room as darkness envelops Nefaria, she vanishes from sight.

  The old wizard starts to straighten up the room and looks at the orbs, “You know…given that boy’s history here I would have thought he would have touched the Orb of Sin…he always did go on about fire magic and attack spells…wait…”

   He thinks back, “Was that a Sorceress Stone in his…her forehead?”

  He looks at the Orb of Shadows, “Your sisters here on Jenna might not appreciate you putting such a strong player on the field great old one…” he *shrugs*, “then again who am I to imagine what such monstrous beings such as yourselves find enjoyable.”