Melock's mind filled with visions of the Necromancer's world long before it was destroyed. He was once a member of an advanced humanoid species that discovered technology long before they dabbled in the magical arts.
Dark shadows did their best to cloud a vision of an ambitious young man climbing to a state of prominence in a futuristic utopian society. He held no resemblance to the wicked creature Melock fought. Flashes of a book, a manuscript, years of secret research, and a ritual that summoned a demon. Melock dove deep into the recesses of his memories.
He saw the young man atop a massive skyscraper looking out into a planet-wide ecumenopolis. The man turned his back on the city and gazed upon a room filled with runes, potions, candles, a human sacrifice, and a portal. He cut his own arm and said the word, "Mazlovado."
The Necromancer pushed him out. "No!"
The vision swirled away in a ghostly phantom.
"My work is not for you to steal!" said a sonic voice in Melock's head.
"I share your quest for knowledge, but don't use it to rule over others. I have no interest in the powers of extra-planar evil. "
"Don't you? You went out into space seeking eternal life and the universe brought you to me."
Melock shuddered at the truth of this statement.
"You extend your life by sucking it from others."
"Energy can neither be created nor destroyed—only converted from one form to another."
Melock ran his hand down his Fu Manchu. "You understand physics well enough, but what of philosophy?"
"Don't speak to me of morals, you hypocrite!" sneered the voice.
The Necromancer pulled images out of Melock's memory of him luring Sister Murphy into his own personal plot under the guise of righteousness.
Melock took a deep breath in and said, "I may be guilty of unfair influence but I certainly don't make choices for others."
The Necromancer showed Melock a future where he wouldn't return Øregård to his own world and kept him as a bodyguard and errand boy. "We have more in common than you think."
Melock exhaled slowly. His own prognostications gave reasons why he would need Øregård's help in the future.
"I released you from captivity. It seems fitting that you would turn to conquer my homeworld first. I hesitate to put a being with such a wealth of experience back into prison, even if your history is plagued by high crimes against so many species."
"We both know you can't send me back. You don't know how."
"Don't I?" said Melock placing his fingers on the sides of his teleportation amulet.
Tykö jumped off the ground with a crazed look in his eyes. It was unclear if he was alive or dead or undead? Melock broke his focus. Tykö fired a ray from his mechanical arm and cracked the shell around the Necromancer. Melock rushed a wave of force knocking the Technowizard back down. The Necromancer shed his capsule and plucked the blue butterfly from his forehead.
"You are a crafty one," he said crumpling the insect in his long fingers and morphing into a giant black spider that ate it.
Melock shape changed into a galactic space wasp, took to the air, and divebombed the arachnid. The spider turned into a beautiful yet grotesque creature that resembled a crustacean without its shell. Its head was all mouth and jagged teeth and its black oily body pulsed with bioluminescent rainbows. It grabbed the oncoming man-sized wasp with eight muscled appendages. The wasp changed into an adult male silverback mountain gorilla.
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Space Wizards
Science FictionUsually, they say not to judge a book by its cover but....
