Dead Rainbow

Prodigal Son

Redwing tried in vain to teleport the wooden box that contained the Cursed Gauntlets out of his father's room, over and over and over again. He raged with frustration, obsession, and failure. In the end, he saw no other way to get what he wanted without returning home.

He stood before the door of his father's lighthouse tower on the sun-drenched shores of Verina Luki and cast a spell to conceal his recent memories; the months spent acquiring another body to use as a clone, hiding it in the cave of the dead world, raising long-dead reptiles to guard it, finishing his spellbook and hiding two extra copies to be found in the event of a needed reincarnation. Hidden were the memories of his deal with a dragon, taking control of a demon, and how he was now shielded from mortality. 

The door opened before he knocked. He was greeted by his grinning father and the triumphant cheers of the children. 

"We're so pleased you've decided to come live with us," said Melock knowing his intentions before he declared them.

"Redwing! Redwing's here!"

"Did you bring your flying carpet?" 

"Did you bring presents?"

Hex and Mevner pushed past the old man and hugged Redwing screaming with joy over the big brother they never saw. Even Øregård, the keeper of the lighthouse, came up from the cellar.

"No shooting anyone. House rules." He punched Redwing in the arm nearly knocking him over. 

Redwing should have felt joy at the homecoming but he only saw obstacles on his path to power. 

Thus began two decades of life in the house of Melock. Redwing took the rooms below his father and above the lessor apprentices. He lay in bed at night staring at the brick ceiling and imagined chiseling through it like a prison break; slowly chipping away the stone to get at the magical treasure and freedom on the other side. Melock never permitted access to his private room. 

Redwing was not left in peace to pursue his own interests either; he was tasked with contributing to the education of Raven and Diggs. He taught spellcasting, writing, languages and runes, conjuration, divination, abjuration, enchantments, illusions, transmutations, and magical item creation. Whenever he bent his lessons toward the darker arts Melock would appear, as if out of nowhere, suggesting Mevner was too young for such subjects and that they should all go on an outing instead.

He was dragged all over the planet on endless do-gooding adventures. They freed cities of crime by infiltrating thieves guilds only to turn them into productive members of society, they helped the farmers enhance their crops, they moved a colony of vampire bats that were feasting on the woodland folk, Raven spent three years becoming a midwife and insisted Redwing attend every birth, they negotiated peace between the mountain dwarves and the cave goblins, they spent a year meditating with the forest elves yet learned none of their magic, they courted the fire demons of a volcanic isle to spare the local people, and they solved the impossible labyrinth of the Minotaur but instead of slaying the beast they sat down with it for tea. 

That was one-time Redwing saw value in Melock methods, as the Minotaur taught them his skill of True Recall; allowing none of them to ever lose their way again or at least they would always be able to retrace their steps. The memory of the mythic bull was astounding. 

They met with Kings of the North, South, East, and West. Melock's cast of insufferable friends was endless; drunken sea captains, gypsy bedouins, primitive witch doctors, clairvoyants, psychics, oracles, fortune-tellers, magicians of every elk, politicians, bankers, craftsmen, weavers, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers, journeymen, bandits who stole from the rich to give to the poor, monks, shamans, and wonderers. The endless parade of visitors and house guests was compounded by old acquaintances in every town. It seemed to Redwing, the only thing Melock did with the many years of his long life was to make worthless needy friends. 

Melock took them on skin wrinkling underwater adventures to speak with leviathans of the oceans. They spent two years at sea and traversed the globe. They traded with primitive jungle tribes for rare herbs and exotic plants. They crossed boundless deserts and traveled to continents that held no civilization at all. 

Mindless journeys over vast distances for a twig or a berry. Mountain peaks summited for a particular piece for ice. The dense jungle hacked through for months on end to gather the droppings of a three-toed sloth. Dead whale carcasses were dissected for a bizarre flammable waxy golden substance known as ambergris. 

Melock taught his pupils physics, biology, and chemistry. He showed them the structure and beauty of the universe, while Redwing only wanted to control it, to manipulate it, to bend it to his will.

The only enjoyment Redwing had was the occasional fights against wrongdoers. They battled orcs, goblins, trolls, living blobs of goo, and the army of an evil overlord. Redwing found the later's sense of evil laughable. After burning his personal guard to ash and pinning the warlord to the wall with crossbow bolts, Redwing sucked the life out of the man. He relished the look of utter fear on his face as he died. When he was finished he turned to see Hex in the room with him. She wasn't frightened so much as she was interested in the magic he was using. 

He began to secretly take her under his wing.

They traveled underground through dungeons inhabited by giant insects, nocturnal nightmares, and the undead. It was in those dark places Redwing found the chance to influence her. 

"Why don't we split up? The moonlight mushrooms are certainly in the left cavern but there are also forces of evil to deal with on the right. I'll take Raven with me." 

While Melock and Mevner went off to pick mushrooms, Redwing and Hex tried their hand at controlling monsters, summoning the undead, and parleying with evil spirits. Hex shared the desire for power beyond what Melock taught her and Redwing leaned on that weakness to draw her to him.