Corone Sweet Home (Solo)

[Auramancer]

"Don't look him in the eyes, he'll steal your soul!" cried the grubby looking woman, followed by the sharp screeching of her several children. "Your soul; he'll rip out your soul and feed your lifeless body to the dogs!". Aaron inwardly scoffed, letting out a small snort in retort to the ridiculous villagers. He was used to this kind of attention, and indeed at times relished the fact he held such power over the masses. Most of the time, however, it was a clear pain in his temple that manifested as a migraine. The only way to clear his mind was to dive in headfirst into a magic text, which he planned on doing as soon as he reached the library.

One of the children, a boy with sullen eyes and unkempt hair, began picking up a rock from the cobblestone with the clear intent to cast it towards the Auramancer. Full of righteous anger, the boy heaved the stone above his shoulder ready to bring Aaron harm. But just before he released his grip a cane came swiftly down upon the child's wrist, causing him to drop it immediately. "Ouch! What's-", the boy stopped. The owner of the cane, an elderly man well into his twilight years did not say anything. He only stared intently and firmly at the boy, scowl on his face. The young lad quickly looked away in defeat, and the rest of the crowd grew silent.

"Good." Aaron muttered under his breath, "Peasants." They knew their place. They wouldn't dare raise a hand against Aaron, because they knew the Auramancer well. His indignant demeanor served him just fine in this way. Aaron turned his gaze towards the library. As the hooves of his horse clopped on the cobblestone he began to think back on what Kragor, his mentor had told him several days before. They were to embark on a journey. To where, Aaron did not know, but he could barely contain his excitement. He'd spent his whole life inside these walls, and the dingy castle was wearing on Aaron. He knew that if he spent any more time here he'd be driven insane by the monotony of it all. Kragor must have known as well, which is why he mentioned a trip in the first place.

Aaron came up to the doors of the library, pushing with great force to pry them open. The huge oaken doors creakily swung away from the Auramancer. "Finally, I've arrived." Aaron took in a deep breath, capturing the musty essence of the library in his nose. It was a wonderful smell. It was the smell of knowledge, of progress, and self-improvement. This smell brought back such wonderful memories, of the times Aaron spent alone with his thoughts and tomes. He gazed up and down at the beautiful display of texts that lined the walls. Each held a story, a memory, a fleeting image that belonged only to Aaron, a secret he'd never tell. He'd read almost all of the books, tomes, and grimoires in the castle. In fact, he wasn't sure if there was anything else for him to read. But if that was the case, he could just comb the library for his favorites and read them again. It was going to be a good day.

Aaron turned his attention to a certain book on the top shelf, but just as he reached out to grab it someone tapped him on the shoulder with what felt like a wooden cane. Aaron rolled his eyes and turned around to find the elderly man who'd chided the child in the alley. "So it was you." snarled Aaron. The old man nodded, and removed his cloak. The once hunched over figure of an elderly man became a towering young man in the blink of an eye. He stood higher than any other person in the castle, which confirmed Aaron's suspicion.

"Kragor," Aaron inquired, "must you always play these stupid games. I knew it was you all along. Oh, and I don't need your help. It didn't look like the boy would be able to toss that stone further than his tiny webbed feet."

Kragor began to laugh, "Of course. I knew you'd find me out, but the villagers - especially of that age - need guidance. They are at an impressionable age."

"Ugh. I don't care, I really don't. I don't understand why the king lets these refugees inside the walls to begin with. They only breed mistrust and contempt. Especially towards me. For no reason at all they see fit to throw stones at the man of all the rumors are spread. Just because I have a gift."

"You love the attention." laughed Kragor.

"What are you even doing here?" Aaron chided. Of course when he thought about it, he knew exactly why Kragor must be there. They were to begin preparations for their trip. He was annoyed, however, because it meant spending less time in the library. The trip was probably just to deliver an enchanted item to a local lord, something Aaron had never been interested in. He always filled his enchantment requests, but never heard from or saw his clients. Aaron was much too busy for the riff-raff who lived outside the castle.

"We're going on a trip, remember? Don't make that face, you've read every one of the books in here already. Besides, I think you'll like where we're going. It's definitely not what you're thinking." Kragor, who until a second ago had been chuckling, turned deadly serious. He reached into his shirt, and pulled a small string that had been tied around his neck. On the end of the string was a small key, glowing with an eerie golden light, like a smoldering fire.

Aaron's eyes narrowed. "It's humming. But what does a key have to do with anything? Also, this key is quite ornate. It looks like a key to the Chantry. Please, don't tell me... we're not even leaving the castle?!" Aaron held his head. His migraine was getting worse. It was bad enough that Kragor the Immortal, revered adviser to the king and High Wizard of the castle had never let the Auramancer outside of said castle, but he also tended to never explain himself, let alone teach Aaron anything. Aaron learned quickly as a child that if he wanted to know anything about his powers or how to control them, that he'd have to teach himself. This lead to frequent mishaps as a youth, which might explain part of the reason why the villagers were so afraid of him.

"Of course we're leaving the castle." Kragor retorted. "But we need something. Specifically an artifact from the Chantry." Kragor tucked away the key and began walking towards the door. He turned and faced Aaron again, his mouth curling into a smile. "Follow me. It's time we put some of what you've learned over the years into practice."

The Auramancer, who was looking up at the high ceilings of the library, sighed in disappointment. "And what exactly have I learned? Do you even know?" But the wizard was gone, leaving Aaron by himself in the library once again. Being mischievous and also stubborn Aaron was tempted to stay in the library. However, what Kragor said had intrigued him. Aaron rubbed his temples in a circular motion, closing his eyes as he reluctantly trotted after his mentor, the image of the key burned into his eyelids.

[Auramancer]

"So what exactly are we doing here?" asked Aaron, who began looking around nervously. Kragor had shown him a key, so Aaron assumed they'd be walking in the front door. This was not the case, however, as Aaron had unexpectedly found himself in the back of the Chantry. They were inside the cemetery, prying open a grave within a small sepulcher.

"Push." ordered Kragor, who was trying to slide the heavy top off the stone sarcophagus by himself. Aaron reluctantly reached down towards the stone with one hand and leaned ever-so-slightly into it. Kragor was too busy pushing to notice that Aaron was barely helping, which Aaron found quite amusing.

Suddenly the top gave way and the right corner slid off, releasing a foul odor of death into the room. "Ugh, it smells terrible." winced Aaron, who could feel the bile in his stomach churn. Aaron took his hand off the sarcophagus and put it up to his mouth. "I'm going to be sick..." Kragor, who was catching his breath, whispered an incantation in-between panting. Soon the feeling in Aaron's stomach was gone. Aaron then pulled his hand away from his mouth, feeling the nausea leaving his body. However, Aaron then started to notice the smell had become stronger. He looked at his hand, and saw that it was covered in black filth. The Auramancer then promptly turned his head and vomited. Kragor rolled his eyes and handed Aaron a small cloth tissue. Wiping his mouth and hand hurriedly, Aaron spit and shot Kragor a glance. Was this the trip? Were they to become grave robbers? Or did this mean they were finally about to embark on their journey?

Aaron began to say something, but as soon as he moved his lips Kragor shouted "Ah, here it is!" The wizard then reached his hand into the sarcophagus. Aaron winced, but he was getting used to the smell and his stomach was already empty. After a second the Auramancer heard a loud click followed by the sound of stone scraping against stone. The small sepulcher began to rumble slightly, and the sarcophagus began to move away from the two of them.

"It's... moving?" Aaron puzzled. As the sarcophagus moved away light began to shine onto a pair of stone stairs leading down a hole further into the sepulcher. "We aren't going down there... are we?" Aaron groaned wistfully. It was a rhetorical question, because Aaron already knew that Kragor was going to lead them down there, into the dark, dank halls of the catacombs.

"Of course we are. But you knew that." Kragor then flicked a dull crystal on the top of his staff, which lit up in a bright blue blaze of light.

The light danced across the stone walls as the two ventured further and further into the darkness of the sepulcher. Aaron was becoming more nervous... Even with the bright light of Kragor's staff it seemed that the darkness would swallow them both. His body felt heavy, and his breathing became more rapid. Aaron was becoming more and more aware of his surroundings; the damp stone, the pitch black darkness, the sounds of their footsteps echoing down the seemingly endless corridor. He could feel the adrenaline begin to course through his body. Sweat started dripping from his brow, despite the fact that the further they ventured downward, the cooler it became. Aaron's breath now seemed to freeze in front of him, turning to mist then quickly dissipating. His esophagus began to tighten and burn as he gasped for air. His pulse quickened, and the heat left his body; a sharp chill that pierced Aaron to the bones.

"We're here." Kragor stopped, shining the blue incandescence of his staff on to what appeared to be a door at the bottom of the stairs. Slowly the wizard began to pull the key from his shirt. As he did, the golden light which had been emanating from the key earlier turned from a smoldering flame to a raging fire. Aaron's ears began to ring, the humming sound he'd heard earlier was growing. It was as if the sound was trying to escape his skull. Aaron gripped his head tightly and let out a hoarse groan from the intense pain. Quickly Kragor shoved the key into the door and pushed. The sound died down, and a gust of air blew through the crack in the door onto Aaron's face. He felt a rush of calm crash over him like a wave. Wherever they were, Aaron felt as if the worst had passed.

[Auramancer]

"Are you all right?" asked Kragor, concerned. "I wasn't expecting that to happen. The key reacted quite fiercely to the door." Darkness swallowed the light of Kragor's eyes. It was beginning, the surge of power proved that. The truth was he had expected it, at least to a degree. However, there was no telling what this might do to Aaron. The glow that usually lit up the wizard's face was a pale aura of black.

"I've never felt such a surge of energy from an enchanted object before..." grated Aaron, his voice crumbling into what sounded like a pile of gravel. Aaron looked up, noticing the color of his mentor's aura. It was a washed out black that seemed to stick to Kragor's visage like a leech, slowly draining the wizard of his spirit. "What's wrong." Aaron asked timidly, afraid of what his mentor might say.

"It was my aura, wasn't it, what gave it away..." sighed Kragor. Aaron nodded hesitantly. Kragor hadn't been careful. Even with the encroaching darkness, and despite the blue incandescence of the wizard's staff, Aaron was still able to notice the color of his aura. It had always been this way. It was why the wizard was extra careful around his pupil. Perhaps he'd been playing too many games recently, been too lackadaisical.

"Let me help you." Aaron's voice cracked. He had learned at an early age it was unwise to cast anything on the wizard without permission. Even with his limited powers, the backlash of having his spells mirrored back to him was painful. Although, this didn't feel like one of those times. Aaron was genuinely concerned about the wizard, as anyone who's aura started to turn that color would be traveling down a dark road of emotion. It wouldn't be long before despair crept in to make a deranged nest inside Kragor's mind, ridding him of reason and replacing it with doubt and destructive impulses. Aaron had seen it many times in the depressed villagers.

Kragor gave in, and nodded towards the Auramancer. Before they moved on further into the catacombs Kragor knew that he'd need to be of sound mind. With that, the Auramancer grabbed his oaken quarterstaff and his small iron dagger, pulling them both up to his chest. Aaron uttered a small incantation, then took the dagger and poked a small hole in the skin of his thumb. Blood began to ooze slowly from the wound, dripping from the middle of his thumb down into the Auramancer's hand. Placing his thumb on the staff, Aaron rubbed a little of the blood onto the bottom of the quarterstaff. With that, Aaron tapped the ground with the end of the quarterstaff, making a small sound which echoed across the stone hall. The sound, which was quite small, began to grow in intensity, and colors of all kinds began to gather around Kragor. Royal blue, fuchsia, gold, crimson and moss green all gravitated towards the wizard. The air around the wizard pulled the colors towards him like tiny streams of water, which then began to infuse themselves with his aura. The colors splashed across his aura like drops of rain, and before long the pale black which haunted the wizard before was a cool sky blue.

"Thanks." said Kragor solemnly, "Let's get going. We don't want to waste any more time here."

[Auramancer]

The two traveled down the long dark corridor of the catacombs, the light of Kragor's staff bathing the stone walls in a blue light that ebbed and flowed as if they were at the bottom of a deep lake. It was soothing, dispelling not only the darkness of the room but the darkness in Aaron's heart. The calm that had washed over him before was beginning to subside, but it had scrubbed clean the feelings of dread he'd had earlier. Now the Auramancer felt that he was ready to face anything.

A faint light began to shine in the distance. Kragor picked up his pace, walking swiftly towards their destination. A medium sized orb sat on a long stone pedestal. Aaron peered past Kragor towards the light, trying to see what they were walking towards. What he saw was a crystal ball. At least, he thought it was crystal. Like the key, it glowed with a golden light that seemed to smolder like a small flame. Black and red bubbled across the surface like hot lava, dripping and oozing, but remaining circled around the orb. Aaron moved slowly towards the orb, stopping in front of the pedestal which held the swirling ball of magma. He reached out his hand to touch it, testing to see if any heat emanated off the object. There was no heat, however the feeling of dread Aaron had earlier began to creep back into his mind. The room began to flash with a red light, and Aaron closed his eyes, focusing deeply on the fear. This time, he charged his aura, which crackled and hummed with a yellow luminosity.

Kragor breathed a sigh of relief. He had expected that after all the years it had been down here that someone might have taken it. Luckily for the wizard and Auramancer they were the only two in the castle who knew anything about enchanted artifacts.

"What is it?" asked Aaron, curious as to what they'd need with such an object of power.

"A key." said Kragor frankly. Aaron sighed. They had gone through all that trouble for another key? What did they need another key for?

"Grab it." Kragor whispered. The wizard then reached out and put his hand on Aaron's back, trying to reassure the Auramancer. Aaron looked up at Kragor, the blue of the wizard's staff and the red light emanating from the orb mixed to make a soothing violet which illuminated the wizard's face. Kragor's mouth curled ever so slightly into a mischievous grin. Aaron reached down and touched the orb without any hesitation.

Instantly the two of them were in another place, one which looked wholly unfamiliar to Aaron. There were rolling hills, and the smell of the ocean. They were under a blue sky, a sharp contrast to the dank reaches of the catacombs. Kragor walked in front of Aaron, paused, then turned towards the Auramancer with a big smile on his face.

"Welcome to Althanas."