The Son of the Dark

Groudrer ran as fast as his short legs would take him; as hard as he tried he couldn’t keep up with his Elven friend, Varitan, nor could he keep ahead of the wolves chasing them. Varitan turned and notched an arrow in his bow ‘Duck!’ he yelled. Groudrer barely had time to duck before Varitan loosed the arrow. As the arrow sailed over Groudrer it somehow split into multiple arrows, each finding a target in the wolves chasing them; and although not enough to slay the beasts the wound was enough to cause them to disengage from their pursuit. Groudrer came up beside his friend panting and out of breath ‘What part of dangerous over short distances did you not understand?’ Varitan looked at his friend and laughed ‘Must be the short part. I couldn’t imagine being that short.’ Groudrer took a deep breath ‘Oh ha ha Lofty. Height aside’ Groudrer replied ‘Did you do the magic with arrow?’ Varitan looked at him puzzlingly ‘No, wasn’t me. As far as magic is concerned, only my bow is enchanted to increase the speed of the arrow’ Varitan replied ‘I lack any magic skill or ability, I’m solely an archer.’ The two friends looked towards the wolves retreating in the distance; Varitan looked at his friend ‘Come with me, I have an idea.’

Groudrer and Varitan made their way through the ruins of the old world; Groudrer thought about they were so far from his home of Heathcross in the underground tunnels, he had set out to try and make a name for himself but he was no warrior nor was he any good at smithing, many people joked that he wasn’t really a dwarf but a hairy midget. ‘Were we going? Groudrer asked ‘It’ll be dark soon’ looking towards the western horizon. Varitan pointed towards a building in the distance ‘The Tower of Glass, come we’re almost there!’ The two friends walked for another hour before reaching what was once known as The Shard but has since been renamed the Tower of Glass, amongst all of London’s decayed buildings; The Shard was one of the few that miraculously still stood after the centuries since Nuclear War claimed the world. They soon reached the base of The Shard, Varitan looked towards the sun ‘Quick! We need to get to top before the sun sets!’ The two friends ram into the derelict building towards a ramshackle lift ‘Get in and get ready to wind!’ Varitan said ‘This’ll take us most of the way.’

Groudrer grabbed hold of the winch and began winding; Varitan did the same with the opposing winch and they began moving the lift upwards towards their destination. After several minutes of frantic winding of winches; Varitan and Groudrer found themselves a few floors below their target ‘Grit your teeth, we’re running up the stairs to the top floor’ Varitan said as he ran towards the stairs with Groudrer at his heels ‘Damn you! You know I don’t like running.’ After furiously sprinting up the stairs to what is left of the top of The Shard; the pair found themselves on a floor with strange runes and symbols carved into it ‘Stand in the centre of the floor!’ Groudrer made his way to the centre of the runes and looked towards the sunset.

As the sun dipped below the horizon into the twilight phase there was a green flash in the red sky and bolt of arcane energy erupted from the clouds and struck Groudrer. The young dwarf began floating off the ground as mystical runes began swirling around him ‘Help’ he cried. The runes began swirling faster; creating a cyclone of magic, the speed of which seemed to increase exponentially. Suddenly the vortex began to change from a vortex of runes to a vortex of colour; red, white, blue, green, black, yellow, which began to intermingle with each other, eventually one colour would fade, then another, eventually there was only one colour left. The colour began to wind its way around Groudrer before settling in his hand. Varitan stepped up beside his friend ‘It would appear that you are in fact a wizard” he proclaimed “a nature mage by the looks of things.’ He pointed at the mass of energy on the palm of his friend’s hand ‘It would seem you have a slight affinity for water based magic’ indicating the intricate blue line appearing in the orb of colour. Groudrer looked as the ball of colour eventually faded and then he looked at his friend ‘That’s all well and good but what does that mean for me?’ he asked; Varitan began ushering Groudrer back to the improvised ramshackle lift ‘In essence my friend, you can use magic which I’m told is a rarity among dwarves.’ Groudrer pondered what Varitan had just said ‘Dwarves don’t like magic, I don’t think we’ve ever had a dwarven mage.’ The two friends began winding their way back down the loft shaft to the ground floor of The Shard eventually they made their way out of the building ‘What do we do now?’ asked Groudrer I’ll be a pariah if I go back to Heathcross.’ Varitan looked at his friend ‘We could try to find someone to teach you nature magic? That way when you return home you can put your magic to good use’ he said calmly ‘I’ve heard of a place to the west that might be able to help you.’ The two friends made their way to the nearest market in order to pack supplies for their trip west ‘How long do you think it’ll take to get their?’ Groudrer asked, Varitan looked over some of the goods ‘I would say maybe 2 or 3 days’ he said ‘Let’s gather enough for a week.’