Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

175. The Inescapable Fall of Calphian

"Something has happened." Lord Bansfivner felt a spark of magic ripple in the city.

He sat in his office at his desk. He spun around in his chair and looked out the window at the red glow of the morning. The rays of dark magic ate at the edge of the forest. Even the Demonkin gave up on the 'city' they were building. It was a sham of course. Just another one of Calloway's ruses to prepare for war. Not a single building had been built, his spies had confirmed it.

The elves that supported Calloway had mystically vanished. Most of them anyway. All the original residents were still here and unshakable. Worse, they were at the edge of their seats with eagerness. They were mad, but they were powerful.

He tapped on his desk with his pen.

"Shit." He cursed. "Calloway is up to something again." He sighed as he realized it was going to be a long day. "I might have to tell Him about this. I have a bad feeling."

He stood up and his door was already open. Two elven guards stepped inside as if they were summoned.

"We are moving, prepare the seer stone, I want to check something." Lord Bansfivner grabbed his jacket and slung it on.

"Sir," one guard saluted and then he dashed away.

"Should I summon His Highness?" The other guard asked.

"With only four days left?" Lord Bansfivner buttoned his jacket which only made his beautiful handsome form that much more magnificent. "Tell him I have a hunch; he may make his own judgement."

"What kind of hunch?" The guard asked.

"A nervous one." Lord Bansfivner straightened his jacket and then he grabbed a magic staff set in a glass display. "You can never be too careful when you are up against a God of Peril."

Five minutes later he had descended from his office to the basement of his mansion that had been carved out of the catacombs. There was a large door guarded by two fully armed knights with magic resistant armor. Each had an amulet under their armor that gave them near-immunity to poisons and debuffs like sleep, paralyzing, and shielded them from perception blocking abilities like stealth.

He touched a small rectangular metal plate one of the knights offered him that would dispel any magic on him in case he was in a magical disguise. The plate then displayed his name and status to prove it was him. The knights both chanted a spell and unlocked the door to a round room. That was when the first guard returned with a small box and handed it to him. Lord Bansfivner then entered the room alone.

There was a tiered round basin made out of silver that was built into the ground. It was filled with a glowing layer of Mermaid Dust. The floor around it was engraved with a large magic circle that filled the room. Without any ceremony he set the staff in the air on the perimeter of the shallow pool and it duplicated into five staves the surrounded the basin.

"Here we go." He said as the magic circle began to shimmer with magical energy. He opened the small box which housed a round pale stone set in a magic circlet crafted from mithril. He pulled the palm-sized artifact from the box and set the box aside. He pressed the seer stone against his forehead and a mithril circuit grew from it like plant vines until it was affixed to his head.

He stepped into the basin and the magic infused mermaid dust cushioned his shoes and lit up in response to his natural magic. It tingled through the material and even the water became body temperature. The water that had once filled up to his waist now only rose to his knees. There was probably only enough left for one more vision.