Nox Enraged

Then, he saw it, the massive double doors, slightly ajar. A sickly red glow pulsed from within, the scent of burning incense and something fouler seeping into the corridor.

Nox was inside. I pressed myself against the cold stone, took a deep breath, and moved. In a swift, fluid motion, he slipped through the doors.

The chamber was massive, dominated by an altar of obsidian and bone. At its center, the idol sat atop a raised pedestal, throbbing with unnatural energy. It was bound to Nox by twisting veins of crimson light, snaking from the warlock’s outstretched hands as he knelt before it, deep in trance.

I didn’t hesitate. I lunged.

The moment my fingers wrapped around the idol, a violent crack split the air. The crimson veins snapped, recoiling into Nox’s body like severed tendons. The warlock’s head jerked up, his eyes flaring with burning rage.

“THIEF!”

A pulse of raw magic erupted outward. The torches flared black, shadows writhed across the walls, and the very air screamed.

I gritted his teeth, the idol scorching hot in my grasp, and I ran.

Nox’s roar of fury shook the walls as I burst through the chamber doors, sprinting into the twisting halls of the fortress.

“Stop him!”

The castle erupted into chaos. Orcish guards surged into motion, their heavy boots pounding against stone as they raced to cut him off. My breath came in sharp gasps as I turned corner after corner, mybmind mapping every route I had memorized.

I needed to disappear.

There, a massive, unlit fireplace. Deep enough.

I dove inside, pressing myself against the cold soot-streaked stone just as the guards stormed past.

My pulse thundered in my ears. My body remained utterly still.

The guards’ voices rumbled as they spread out, searching.

Chance clutched the idol tighter, its eerie warmth pulsing against his palm.

I closed my eyes.

“I wish I was back home, safe and sound, with the idol.”

And then everything vanished. I staggered back as the world around me shifted. One moment, the cold stone of Nox’s fortress had pressed against my back, the next, I was standing in my study, the familiar scent of old books and candle wax grounding me. My wooden desk, the scattered maps, the flickering lantern I was home.

But something was wrong.

The idol pulsed in my grip, its warmth growing into a searing heat. Shadows writhed along its surface, thick tendrils of darkness slithering through the air like living things. My stomach twisted as a deep, guttural whisper echoed from within the artifact, words not meant for mortal ears.

The magic bonds were failing. Nox’s presence was still there, reaching, clawing, drawn by the idol like a beacon in the dark. I could feel it, a terrible will pressing against reality itself, straining to tear through. The room dimmed, the lantern’s light flickering as the shadows deepened unnaturally. The air crackled, the taste of iron thick on my tongue.

“You think you can steal from me?”

Nox’s voice wasn’t just heard, it was felt, reverberating through the walls, through my very bones. The magic sealing the idol shuddered, cracks of crimson energy spiderwebbing across its surface.

I took a step back, mind racing. I could see the protective runes carved into the base of the idol flickering, struggling to hold against the power surging across idol. The bindings would not last, and Nox was coming.

I gritted his teeth. I had won the idol, but I wasn’t free yet. I had to act now.

I said, “I wish that the prisoner in the idol were to sleep until I awake it not hearing any one else in the living world but me.

Nothing came from the idol, but a slow regular breath that spoke of sleeping, dreaming, waiting. One had to ask, what else would wake it up to the world of the living.

The room shook with raw, unfiltered magic. A terrible force loomed in the chamber, its form shifting between shadow and fire, its voice an endless scream that rattled the walls of my study

Nox was upon me.

The warlock’s face was twisted with rage, his robes billowing as he raised both hands, eldritch power swirling at his fingertips. Shadows writhed behind him, screaming specters clawing at the edges of existence, waiting to be loosed upon me.

“You insignificant wretch,” Nox spat, his voice shaking with fury. “You dare steal my prize? You dare defy me?”

I barely had time to move before the warlock’s spell lashed out—a surge of black fire meant to consume me whole. I rolled to the side, barely avoiding the infernal blast as it scorched the stone where I had stood just moments before.

I was outmatched and I knew it.

Nox was a master of the arcane, a force to be reckoned with. I was fast, clever, and lucky, but luck wouldn’t save me here. Not against this.

Unless…

My hand shot to his belt, fingers closing around a small, delicate pouch. His last trick. His last shot.

Nox sneered. “You think you can fight me? You are nothing, Chance Everston.”

I grinned despite myself. “Oh, I know. That’s why I cheat.”

And with that, he hurled the powdered salt.

The fine, shimmering, purifying, dust exploded in the air, creating a floating, swirling mist between them. As Nox stepped forward, his body passed through the cloud of salt, and instantly, the phantasmal energy around him ripped apart.

Nox screamed as the magic flayed away, his body seizing as the spectral forces he commanded were torn to shreds in the salted air. His own magic recoiled, turning against him, destabilizing.

I didn’t hesitate.

I reached deep into the wild, chaotic energy of the idol’s and woke it its power now crackling in the air. I wasn’t a sorcerer, wasn’t a wizard, but in that moment, instinct and desperation guided me. I needed something. Something simple. Something final.

“I wish Nox was a chicken!”

And as the wish left my lips, I saw Nox’s eyes widen in horror.

A flash of golden light.

A burst of wild magic.

And then,

Bwak!

Where Nox had stood, robes of dark silk now pooled on the ground, and atop them, a single, utterly unremarkable black-feathered chicken flapped its wings in confused outrage.

I stared at the bird and could not help to laugh.

The bird stared back.

Then it let out a furious, indignant bawk! and attempted to lunge at me, only to hop awkwardly forward, unable to do more than flap and squawk in utter frustration.

I exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow.

“Well,” I muttered, “that’s one way to shut you up.”

The floor cracked beneath him, a deep, resounding rumble filling the chamber. The entity was free and awake.

And it was not pleased.