Roquesdoodle
First Post
Prologue
Mandlebrot stood over the rent and open body of his wife as his crown city burned around him. The stench of blood and liquified stone flowed through the city’s broken streets like dark veins bleeding out the last remaining heartbeats of the dying city.
His wife stared up at him, her eyes wide and questioning as her mouth slowly moved in silent disbelief.
"Hush, my love," Mandlebrot said. "I’m almost finished." He stroked a bloody finger along his brow and smiled. "It won’t be much longer, my dear."
Thick red spittle leaked from the corner of his wife’s mouth. When she spoke, her voice was a whisper, barely audible above the sounds of the city in its final death throes. "I’m...I’m sorry."
He looked at the blood soaked bundle that lay at his feet then back to his wife. "I gave you everything, Thalinda. All that I had was yours. My power, my life...my knowledge. And in return, you corrupted the only thing I ever asked you give me in return." Mandlebrot bent and lifted the bundle into his arms. "So keep your apology. I want no more of your tainted gifts."
"Our...our daughters..."
"Are safe. I secreted them away to the island states. They’re old enough now to take care of themselves, don’t worry. Besides, I didn’t leave them empty handed. They have something to remember me by."
Thalinda managed a grim smile, her pale skin regaining a hint of color. But then the corners of her mouth sank into a scowl. "And your bastard?"
Mandlebrot scowled in return. "Safe. And anonymous. But you needn’t concern yourself with such things anymore, my dear. Such things only concern the living." He stepped over her prostrate form and walked to the balcony, the brittle sound of marble flakes crunching beneath his sandaled feet as he moved.
Through the dirty haze of smoke, Mandlebrot watched the library melt and dissolve in waves of angry blue light. Lifetimes of knowledge and power, bound to ink and pulped wood, burned in magic flame.
Mandlebrot placed the bloody bundle atop the ornate guardrail in front of him, then spread his arms wide as he made tiny, deliberate gestures with his hands. After a moment he stopped, then turned back to his dying wife and asked, "Thalinda, Darling. What spell did you use to do this? Is this one of your own?"
Thalinda could only gargle in response.
"I’m impressed." Mandlebrot turned back to the bundle as he sneered from the corner of his mouth. "I might actually have to break a sweat undoing this."
He began to gesture again with his hands. Small tendrils of smoke appeared out of the air like thin angry worms summoned from some hellish garden. The lines of smoke gathered into the wizard’s fingertips as the flotsam of ruined marble around his feet began to dance. The whole of the city was vibrating.
"I wonder," he shouted over the growing thrum. "What was it that angered you so much? Was it that I took a mistress, or that she gave me a child?"
No answer.
"Hmmm." Mandlebrot brought his attention back to the growing cloud of energy swirling in front of him.
The smoke coalesced into a sphere, shooting off sparks of anti-light like solar flares from a tiny black sun. And then Mandlebrot uttered a word not heard aloud in lifetimes, the sole source containing its meaning now burning in the distance. The world shook. The sphere floated above the bundle for a moment and then solidified. Its surface cracked and deep red lines formed over its shattered face. The sphere began to deflate as small drops of black and red dripped onto the bundle until it was coated with a thick malodorous crust.
When the sphere had completely dissolved over the bundle, Mandlebrot turned back to his wife and said, "It is done." With a dismissive wave of his hand, he gestured toward his wife’s prone body and then back to the blackened heap encrusted to the marble guardrail.
"I always thought Wraithenul was beautiful in the Spring. Perhaps we should go there. Take a break from all of…this." He swept his hand out to the burning city. "What do you think, darling?"
Thalinda lurched to Mandlebrot’s side, blood and viscera leaking from the open wound in her belly. Mandlebrot put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Un-life suits you, my dear."
The ground moved again as one of the dormitories across the courtyard exploded in a blast of blue and yellow flame. Shards of smoking marble and stone rained down, clattering against the broken tiles. "Or maybe we could head to Dorland," Mandlebrot said as he shook soot and ash out of his curly black hair. "The civil war has left most of the coast untouched and the sunsets over Highwater are truly spectacular. We could even g—" Movement caught his attention.
The black, crusted bundle started to move. "Look, my love."
A crack formed in the top of the bundle as small flakes of filth fell away like evil snow. The crack widened and then with a gentle sound like dry leaves crumbling, a tiny human hand poked through. Mandlebrot smiled. He reached out with his pinky and the hand grasped it.
"Happy Birthday," he said.
Mandlebrot turned and kissed his wife’s bloody lips. "See? We’re a family again. All is forgiven."
He breathed deep the acrid stench of the dying city. "But alas, my dear. So much gone. So much wasted. And even surrounded by such an incredible wealth of knowledge, no one was able to learn the single most important lesson I had to teach..." Mandlebrot raised his hand to the back of his wife’s head and gestured. In the space of a breath, her body flashed a sickening violet then evaporated into nothingness.
"…all magic has a price."
He lifted the amorphous crust into his arms and leaned against the guardrail, watching fires both magical and natural rage through the city streets. He looked down at the tiny hand before him, then back out to the city. "I hear Lestershire is nice this time of year."
He held two fingers out before him, breathed in one final, shuddering breath, and blinked.
There, in the vast plains of Uilleand where, for decades, countless people came to study at the feet of the most powerful wizard in memory, a smooth disc of virgin earth lay bare to the afternoon sun.
The golden city of Mandlebrot was gone.
Mandlebrot stood over the rent and open body of his wife as his crown city burned around him. The stench of blood and liquified stone flowed through the city’s broken streets like dark veins bleeding out the last remaining heartbeats of the dying city.
His wife stared up at him, her eyes wide and questioning as her mouth slowly moved in silent disbelief.
"Hush, my love," Mandlebrot said. "I’m almost finished." He stroked a bloody finger along his brow and smiled. "It won’t be much longer, my dear."
Thick red spittle leaked from the corner of his wife’s mouth. When she spoke, her voice was a whisper, barely audible above the sounds of the city in its final death throes. "I’m...I’m sorry."
He looked at the blood soaked bundle that lay at his feet then back to his wife. "I gave you everything, Thalinda. All that I had was yours. My power, my life...my knowledge. And in return, you corrupted the only thing I ever asked you give me in return." Mandlebrot bent and lifted the bundle into his arms. "So keep your apology. I want no more of your tainted gifts."
"Our...our daughters..."
"Are safe. I secreted them away to the island states. They’re old enough now to take care of themselves, don’t worry. Besides, I didn’t leave them empty handed. They have something to remember me by."
Thalinda managed a grim smile, her pale skin regaining a hint of color. But then the corners of her mouth sank into a scowl. "And your bastard?"
Mandlebrot scowled in return. "Safe. And anonymous. But you needn’t concern yourself with such things anymore, my dear. Such things only concern the living." He stepped over her prostrate form and walked to the balcony, the brittle sound of marble flakes crunching beneath his sandaled feet as he moved.
Through the dirty haze of smoke, Mandlebrot watched the library melt and dissolve in waves of angry blue light. Lifetimes of knowledge and power, bound to ink and pulped wood, burned in magic flame.
Mandlebrot placed the bloody bundle atop the ornate guardrail in front of him, then spread his arms wide as he made tiny, deliberate gestures with his hands. After a moment he stopped, then turned back to his dying wife and asked, "Thalinda, Darling. What spell did you use to do this? Is this one of your own?"
Thalinda could only gargle in response.
"I’m impressed." Mandlebrot turned back to the bundle as he sneered from the corner of his mouth. "I might actually have to break a sweat undoing this."
He began to gesture again with his hands. Small tendrils of smoke appeared out of the air like thin angry worms summoned from some hellish garden. The lines of smoke gathered into the wizard’s fingertips as the flotsam of ruined marble around his feet began to dance. The whole of the city was vibrating.
"I wonder," he shouted over the growing thrum. "What was it that angered you so much? Was it that I took a mistress, or that she gave me a child?"
No answer.
"Hmmm." Mandlebrot brought his attention back to the growing cloud of energy swirling in front of him.
The smoke coalesced into a sphere, shooting off sparks of anti-light like solar flares from a tiny black sun. And then Mandlebrot uttered a word not heard aloud in lifetimes, the sole source containing its meaning now burning in the distance. The world shook. The sphere floated above the bundle for a moment and then solidified. Its surface cracked and deep red lines formed over its shattered face. The sphere began to deflate as small drops of black and red dripped onto the bundle until it was coated with a thick malodorous crust.
When the sphere had completely dissolved over the bundle, Mandlebrot turned back to his wife and said, "It is done." With a dismissive wave of his hand, he gestured toward his wife’s prone body and then back to the blackened heap encrusted to the marble guardrail.
"I always thought Wraithenul was beautiful in the Spring. Perhaps we should go there. Take a break from all of…this." He swept his hand out to the burning city. "What do you think, darling?"
Thalinda lurched to Mandlebrot’s side, blood and viscera leaking from the open wound in her belly. Mandlebrot put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Un-life suits you, my dear."
The ground moved again as one of the dormitories across the courtyard exploded in a blast of blue and yellow flame. Shards of smoking marble and stone rained down, clattering against the broken tiles. "Or maybe we could head to Dorland," Mandlebrot said as he shook soot and ash out of his curly black hair. "The civil war has left most of the coast untouched and the sunsets over Highwater are truly spectacular. We could even g—" Movement caught his attention.
The black, crusted bundle started to move. "Look, my love."
A crack formed in the top of the bundle as small flakes of filth fell away like evil snow. The crack widened and then with a gentle sound like dry leaves crumbling, a tiny human hand poked through. Mandlebrot smiled. He reached out with his pinky and the hand grasped it.
"Happy Birthday," he said.
Mandlebrot turned and kissed his wife’s bloody lips. "See? We’re a family again. All is forgiven."
He breathed deep the acrid stench of the dying city. "But alas, my dear. So much gone. So much wasted. And even surrounded by such an incredible wealth of knowledge, no one was able to learn the single most important lesson I had to teach..." Mandlebrot raised his hand to the back of his wife’s head and gestured. In the space of a breath, her body flashed a sickening violet then evaporated into nothingness.
"…all magic has a price."
He lifted the amorphous crust into his arms and leaned against the guardrail, watching fires both magical and natural rage through the city streets. He looked down at the tiny hand before him, then back out to the city. "I hear Lestershire is nice this time of year."
He held two fingers out before him, breathed in one final, shuddering breath, and blinked.
There, in the vast plains of Uilleand where, for decades, countless people came to study at the feet of the most powerful wizard in memory, a smooth disc of virgin earth lay bare to the afternoon sun.
The golden city of Mandlebrot was gone.
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