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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3664462" data-attributes="member: 143">Today's post is dedicated to wolff96.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> * * * * * Chapter 218THE ARCHMAGEThe wrinkled, wizened husk of Decimus Vitus Honoratius sat in a comfortable armchair in a richly apportioned, wood-paneled study situated high atop the Tower of Sorcery in Camar.  Bookshelves lined the walls, each packed with ancient tomes bound in faded leather.  There was a window of leaded glass that provided a panoramic view of the city set deep in an opening in the curving outer wall, but the archmage did not even glance in that direction.  His entire focus was on a crystalline orb the size of an ogre’s skull that hovered above a metal stand set in the floor beside his chair.  The door to the study opened, and a young woman entered.  She was the same individual who had transported the Fifteen to Aldenford.  Her brown hair was cut close against her scalp, and she almost shone with vitality, a stark contrast to the ancient venerability of the elder mage.  She knew better than to interrupt Honoratius at his scrying.  She waited in the lee of the door, loosening the neck of her tunic at the heat of the room.  Honoratius liked to keep it warm in his private study, a privilege and requirement of his age. “I summoned you an hour ago, Letellia,” the mage finally said, without looking up from his globe. “My apologies, uncle.”The old man chuckled.  He turned away from the globe, and gestured toward the other chair, a weathered old seat that looked about as old as he was.  “How are the apprentices doing?”“Well enough.  Jalla injured herself when a fire-summoning cantrip misfired, but she continues her work with great intensity.  They all do.”“They sense what we all can,” Honoratius said, glancing at the window.  He turned back to her.  “You acquitted yourself well during the undead attack,” he said.  “I regret that we were not able to do more,” she said. The old man nodded.  “Yes.  The Guild is not what it once was.”“You are concerned about our future.”He shot her a penetrating look.  “And would you not be, in my circumstance?  With Attius’s death, there are no senior mages among the Collegium who have mastered the fifth valence, let alone the higher mysteries.”  He waved a hand as his expression darkened just a trifle.  “I did not mean the comment as a criticism, Letellia.  I know that you have been working hard to push your talent to the next level of mastery.”“That was not what I was going to say, uncle.  I was going to state that it matters little if the Guild prospers, if all of Camar is destroyed.”The old mage leaned back in his chair.  He chuckled.  “Well.  I have always said, with your wit, it is a shame that you did not become a wizard.”The girl shrugged, but the gesture of levity was clearly forced.  “Why spend one’s life invested in dusty tomes, when the power flows through your very being?”Honoratius negated her comment with a slice of a single finger.  “You do not fool me, girl.  You have spent much time in the archives, of late.  I still have my...” he paused, caught by a spasm of coughing.  The girl started to rise out of her chair, concern written on her face, but he ordered her back with a sharp look.  After a moment, he recovered, pressing a soft cloth from his sleeve to his lips. “You should let me bring a cleric...”He waved her off again.  “As far as I know, they have not yet devised a cure for old age, girl.”“At the very least, you should delay your plans to summon Zarathakonos.” He raised an eyebrow.  “I too have my agents,” she said with a faint smile. He sighed.  “I may as well step down now, as you seem to know more of what transpires in the Guild than I.”She grew serious, and leaned forward.  “I know that we will soon face a grievous choice,” she said.  “I have not understood all that is written in the Codex Thanara, but I know enough to realize that we will all be called upon to... to sacrifice.”He looked at her with soft eyes.  “I know, child.  I regret that it must be, with all of my being, but I know.”“May I stand at your side when you conduct your binding?”He nodded.  “And the Web?” she added after a moment’s hesitation. The full force of his gaze fixed upon her, and she realized, even through the love that she felt for this old man, the raw power that resided in him.  Somehow she mustered the strength to stand up to that stare, and said, “It is time, uncle.”He nodded, and sank back into his seat, merely an old, frail man once more.  He looked past the globe, toward the window through which the night sky over Camar could be seen.  The two sat in silence for a time, sharing a quiet moment in a world in tumult.</blockquote>

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