Calamity at the Academy

I stuck my eye through the keyhole, hoping to get an extra edge on the next exam. When the image cleared into focus, my heart stopped and my hands numbed. Professor Guilus was attempting to resurrect a dead god. I was sure of it.

Though panic threatened to set in, I remained calm and pulled away from the door. I turned on my heel and snuck back the way I came. Through the winding halls and dark corridors of the Scholomance. The Scholomance. The premier wizard school in all the realms. To be accepted, you must demonstrate great aptitude with magic, or in my case, be the Headmaster’s grand nephew.

I managed to avoid two animated suits of armor-the eyes and ears around the school. To be caught by them would mean a Saturday detention. Being a third year, I have learned all-too-well how to avoid them. I passed through the classroom hallways and I made it back to my dorm. My bunkmate, Finain, was sleeping.

“Finain, wake up,” I hissed.

Finain waved me away.

“Wake up,” I repeated.

“Stop it, Andros,” he said.

“I didn't wanna do this,” I mumbled, pulling out my wand, “Aqua.”

A gush of ice cold water rushed out of my wand and onto Finain’s face. He jumped up and banged his head off the top bunk.

“Dude!” he said, “What the Hell?”

“Finain, listen,” I said.

“This better be important,” he said, rubbing his head.

“It is. I was spying on Professor Guilus-”

“Like you do,” he interjected.

“Stop it,” I said, “Anyway, I was spying on him and I think he's trying to resurrect a dead god.”

“Really Andros?” he asked, blankly, “A dead god.”

“Well, he is the necromancy teacher,” I said, “Plus, remember history last week? Professor Valian was talking about how the gods killed some of the other gods.”

“Yeah,” Finain said, “That's how the world was formed.”

“But you remember how he said that when gods die they turn into essences?” I asked.

“Yeah, and that they're really hard to find,” Finain said.

“And you don't think Professor Guilus wouldn't?” I asked.

“Was it a glowing shape that seemed to move on its own?”

“Yes. It was green and was trying to take form.”

“Maybe it was some spell-”

“I know what I saw. We need to investigate.”

“Can we investigate tomorrow?”

“No. We need to stop him now…somehow.”

“I’m going back to bed.”

I held up my wand. Finain quickly understood the threat, still sopping with water. He dried off and changed his pajamas. In no time, we stalked through the halls, with Finain almost running right into an animated suit of armor. However, I was able to pull him back in time. Soon, after much maneuvering through the halls, we made it back to Professor Guilus’ study. We watched it for a good minute.

“Now we’re here,” Finain said, “How do we stop Professor Guilus.”

“I don’t know,” I said.

“You didn’t think that far ahead,” Finain said, pointedly.

“I was too busy thinking about saving the school.”

Finain rolled his eyes.

Just then, in an almost too convenient stroke of luck, Professor Guilus’ door opened. The elder wizard looked around, closed the door behind himself, and placed a locking charm on it. He looked around again and rushed down the hall. I held up my hand to make sure he wasn’t going to come back. When I was satisfied, I began to creep forward with Finain following close behind.

“How do we get past the locking charm?” I asked.

“It requires a simple countercharm,” Finain said, “It just needs to be performed by two wand users.”

Students at the Scholomance were given wands, which had a limit on the power of spells you used. This meant it was often required that wand users put their spells together to cast more powerful spells. The professors, on the other hand, used staves, which had a higher threshold for their power. The headmaster wielded a crystal ball, which had a limitless threshold for power.

“Okay,” I said, drawing my wand.

“Just point your wand at the lock and say ‘reserare.’”

We both cast the spell, and the door swung open. I went in first and was immediately struck by a feeling of hunger, but as if the hunger were simultaneously mine own and outside my body. It was the feeling of desire manifest–that I would not be satisfied until I got that which I desired most. As Finain walked in behind me, the glowing green shape faced us. It moved around in its discolored, corked glass jar, like it was suspended in a viscous liquid, however, that was the normal form for the essence of a god. Being a dead god, this being exuded a certain power that made one want to go to their knees. I wanted to think about the rest of the office and the various arcane and necromantic experiments that Professor Guilus always had scattered around. Those open books he kept on his desk, and the ungraded papers. I even wanted to think about the arched windows that peered out to the rest of the school and the mountains beyond. However, the god’s will wanted our undivided attention upon it. Perhaps, if whatever experiment Professor Guilus had been working on went wrong, he’d have been able to restrain this god. However, I knew without a doubt that the combined power of Finain and myself would not and could not hold this god back, if we were to release him back into the world.

“That is definitely a dead god,” Finain said, horror coloring his voice.

“Andros,” the voice said into the depths of my mind, “So you have returned.”

“You know I was here,” I said in my thoughts.

“Of course I did,” the voice drawled, “That’s why I sent Guilus off. He was a lost cause.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I will tell you, but first Finain must leave,” the voice said.

I truly did not want Finain to leave. He was my blanket, my comfort against the onslaught of this god. Yet, a feeling of curiosity itched at me. I wanted to continue this conversation. I needed to continue this conversation.

“Finain, go outside and lock the door,” I said.

He gave me a look in protest.

“Do it,” I said, sharply.

Finain jumped and rushed out, closing the door behind himself.

“Good.” The voice said, sending a feeling of pleasure throughout my body.

“Now what do you mean?”

“He lacks ambition. You, on the other hand. I sense greatness. Greater than your peers, but your talents go unrecognized. That’s why I had to send Guilus…and Finain away.”

Finain.

Minutes had passed since Andros made me lock him in Guilus’ study with that god. Ugh. I regret it so bad. It was not a good feeling being in the presence of that entity that we call a dead god. To top it off, how long Andros had stood there before looking at me. Before telling me in a voice that almost wasn’t his own that I had to leave. I held my wand tight, partially regretting my decision to leave him. Yet, Andros looked so stern when he told me to leave.

Professor Guilus rounded the corner, his staff in hand.

“Finain?” he asked.

“Get back!” I said, holding up my wand.

“What are you doing Finain?” he asked, sternly.

I pointed my wand at his staff and said, “Interrumpere.”

He tried to utter a countercharm, but his staff shattered into a dozen pieces. In an instant, he pulled a wand from his robes. With a simple flick, my wand went flying from my hand. “Don’t be silly, boy,” he said, pointing his wand at me.

“Andros has probably already defeated your god,” I said.

“Andros?” Guilus said, “Ah no.”

Professor Guilus rushed past me with concern painting his face, and put his hand on the doorknob and the magic shot him back across the hall.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

It took him a second to recover after sitting up.

“We need to break the charm, Finain.”

“Why?”

“Andros is in grave danger. That god is going to take over his body and use it as his vessel if he agrees to his terms.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’d almost already accepted them myself.”

Andros.

“I want to help you, Andros,” the voice said, “I can give you infinite power. You just need to resurrect me.”

“But how?” I asked.

“You must open the vial I am trapped in,” the voice said, “Then you must let me enter you. The power of your magic will fuel my return.”

“I will do it,” I said. I approached him slowly. With each step, that hunger grew more intense. The green shape that he had assumed, swam through the vial in absolute excitement. I picked it up, the cork was marked with an ancient seal of protection. It looked like something we learned in Abjuration, but I couldn’t be sure. Without a second thought, I uncorked it. The green mist-like entity rushed out. Hungrily, it drove its way into my nostrils. First, it felt like I was drowning. Then, it felt like I had the most pounding headache. Finally, it subsided. It felt like my entire body was being massaged. Yet, at the edge of it. I felt a burden. As if this god was holding me down with millenia of weight upon my shoulders.

“Now you must accept me,” the voice said throughout my body, “Accept me into your being.”

A chill wracked throughout me. I closed my eyes. I pondered what the god was asking me, but I was not sure if the thoughts in my head were my own, or his. The only thing that I was sure was my own, was the yes or no to this god’s demands. Just as I was about to give my answer, the door slammed open. Professor Guilus and Finain rushed in, wands drawn.

“Andros, stop!” Professor Guilus said, “It only means to deceive you.”

“Yeah,” Finain said.

“They only mean to deceive you,” the voice said, “They want my power for themselves, so neither of us can have it. Accept me into your being and we can have my power together.”

I looked at both of them and gave a smile. Professor Guilus opened his mouth to argue, but I interrupted him.

“I accept,” I said.

The last thing I felt was the sensation of plunging into a frozen lake. Everything became numb. My vision blurred. The air left my lungs. The warmth fled from my body. That was when I lost control.