TITLE:THE MAGIC GUILD SAGA - SUNSTONE (Abnormalia 4) PALETTE:0223 0779 099b 09a9 3 SUNSTONE 2 The Black Mountain The sun, high and hot in a clear and almost white sky, was hitting fiercely three human figures, climbing the steep side of a tall, black mountain. The mission of the exhausted company was going to be accomplished, they had reached finally the place they had sought for months, crossing foreign and mysterious lands and dark and dangerous forests, through mountains and valleys, at the other side of the Big Sea, where the same name of The Magic Guild was unknown and therefore non respected. Medwyn, Jason and Gan'Alv stopped in front of the mouth of a cavern, on one of the sides, signed in the stone, there was a round face, grinning with distorted eyes, in a way half ironic, half maniacal. It was the place, the entrance of The Black Mountain. Medwyn took from his sack a round sphere and started to sing an odd, melodious, monotonous song. It was the Call of the Guilders, able to summon the Guild's members from every possible place on the planet. The Call was for Merlyn, the leader of the Magic Guild, who since the beginning had believed in the enterprise and who strongly wanted to attend the discovery of the Sunstone. The Divine One. The wind howling unnaturally and the sun shining on, Jason, Gan'Alv and Medwyn raised their hands and shouted, finding strength in the soul and the throat: "I want him all, I want him all, I want him now". It was the favourite invocation of every guilder and it gave to the members the feeling of being part on an unique organism, made of different bodies. It had also the power of summoning Merlyn in his integrity. Merlyn appeared, he wasn't alone. At the side of the more or less immortal half elf a tall, black haired, black dressed, black eyed, skinny, white man raised the surprise of the three mages. "What's this?", asked suspiciously Jason to Merlyn. "Zulkir Maligor, a chronicler of the deeds of the Magic Guild, my mate". Merlyn had always had a preference for theatricality, the occasion was too big to risk to be forgotten by History, always child of few scribbled lines, he found just necessary to have with him a witness who could transform actions into written words. "Can he speak?", noticed wicked Medwyn. Zulkir Maligor moved slowly his empty and somehow dumb eyes towards him. "Only when necessary", immediately replied Merlyn, used to the silences of his story teller, who mysteriously happened also to be a distant relative of his. "Let's enter then", interrupted Gan'Alv, tired of digressions and curious to take the last step of his search. Five walking creatures entered in the core of a mountain and ready to cross it from side to side, up and down, following its internal labyrinths leading to many different places without apparent logic. Hours passed and days arrived, time seemed to slow down in the biology of the five bodies, the desire and the will to find the Sunstone was strong enough to survive also to the jokes of obscurity. For hours Merlyn interrogated the three mages about their voyage and the lands visited by them. He already knew that the starting team was composed of five wizards, his heart wept remembering Sharkill and The Joker, whose lives where lost in the crusade for the stone of the sun. He hoped that their sacrifice had been useful for the glory of the Magic Guild. The discussions seemed unlimited, a common thing for the loquacious Guild members, the three explorers related their experiences and opinions, old dirty jokes about princess and horses were narrated by Merlyn, whose goliardic spirit was a novelty for Zulkir Maligor, not familiar with the new mates. Zulkir Maligor's mouth was actually the only one which never opened and this was seen suspiciously by Medwyn, Gan'Alv and Jason, who more than once wondered if he was mute and if he was really able to scribble few historical notes, not being able to hold any discussion, apparently. 2The story of the Sunstone While walking, crawling, climbing and hopping in the seemingly endless caverns where the Sunstone had to be found, Merlyn thought once more about the circumstances that drove him to that filthy, though exciting, place. It all happened a sunny day, many months before, un unknown mysterious stranger asked for audience at the entrance of the Crystal Cave, the headquarter of the Magic Guild. Oz was the guilder charged to receive guests and he asked with the usual formula, what was the reason of his welcomed apparition (Oz's exact words had been: "What do you want?"). The stranger asked for Merlyn and without even waiting for any reply, he stepped into the cave and he walked resolutely towards Merlyn's hall. Seeing such a bold foreigner, Merlyn, while many guilders were already conveying to the place with not friendly intentions towards the intruder, asked: "What's the reason of thy visit, sire?". Merlyn had the odd power of doing exactly the opposite of what whoever could find sage to do in certain situations. "I know where is the Sunstone", replied loudly the visitor. Silence came down on the Cave, some guilders looked Merlyn, some others looked astonished the guest, some started to mumble and to mutter with agitated voices. "Introduce yourself, noble sire, and tell me more about this remarkable novelty", said interested Merlyn. The stranger introduced himself as The Collector, he assured Merlyn about the truth of his declaration and he showed the relative evidences. He actually did NOT know where the Sunstone was, but he had with him ancient scrolls and maps whose deep study could bring to the discovery of the last piece of divinity on the M'Yiomosa Lands. Legends and myths had been created about the Sunstone, there was no living, averagely thinking, being who didn't know them, since they where the favourite topics for children's fables. The Sunstone, narrated legends, was the only thing left by the Gods when they decided to abandon the M'yiomosa Lands to their destiny. There was a time when the Lands were the home of Gods. They stood there for a lapse of time which human or not human mind can hardly grasp. When they decided to leave (the legends offer many versions of their department and the following Sunstone trouble) one of the lesser God forgot one of his divine objects, the Sunstone. Interpretations about its nature were numerous and fantastic, for someone it was a little shining stone, whose power is unlimited, as unlimited is Gods' power; for others, who thought to interpret the legends and their metaphors, it was the same sun; for somebody it's a tool with shape never seen before; the members of the NoWorld sect even declared that the Sunstone had already been found, but nobody had recognized it! Many others, the majority, simply thought that the Sunstone didn't exist and that such a precious present from the Gods was just the child of rootless legends. Merlyn knew that, but the immense possible power of the Sunstone and The Collector's seemingly convincing evidences had convinced him to give some attention to the visitor and his arcane scrolls. The search for the Sunstone started actually in quite a feeble way. Merlyn asked to Zulkir Maligor to investigate and study The Collector's documents, partly written in dead languages and mysterious codes. The Collector's pretends were relatively light too, he wanted to join the Guild and to take part in the quest for the divine stone, a quest he couldn't face with his only forces. Behind the most important and heroic historic deeds there is often a long work in the dark, a work seldom done by the heroes whose name is written on the stone of eternity. For months and months, while the Magic Guild was caring of affairs of totally different nature (a zany quest for some strange kind of letters), Zulkir Maligor studied the papers brought by The Collector and looked for more informations, to complete the fragmentary knowledge of the situation and to solve the problem of finding the actual place where the Sunstone seemed to sleep since the dawn of times. When he finally came to the conclusion that he had enough hints about the right place, Zulkir Maligor asked audience to Merlyn and related the result of his work, not without mentioning how actually The Collector had been far from the solution when he appeared in the Crystal Cave. The quest for the Sunstone started, it had been painful and long, while Zulkir Maligor remained at the Crystal Cave, studying his scrolls and receiving reports from the explorers, five members of the Guild crossed lands and oceans, facing marvellous adventures and, in two sad cases, death. After this human sacrifice and a powerful magical help from the Archmages of the Guild, Medwyn, Jason and Gan'Alv finally found the Black Mountain, house of the Sunstone, as Zulkir Maligor declared with presumption to Merlyn, when the three exploring wizards called him singing the Guild Hymn and Recall. The Black Mountain was more or less at the opposite part of the globe, compared with the place where Zulkir had thought it had to be, but in the general euphoria this aspect of lesser importance was forgotten. 2Mysterious walls Creeping across the strict passages of the Black Mountain, Merlyn breathed satisfied at the remembrance of the past months and glanced his far relative and recent Guilder Zulkir Maligor with paternal benevolence. The same bizarre tortuous caverns were a strong prove of the particularity of the Mountain, whose strange black stone used to sparkle softly at every light source. Suddenly the five adventurers heard a distinct rumour behind them. They looked around and faced themselves with interrogative eyes, there was somebody or something in those cold caverns. Merlyn ordered silence and in silence the noise of approaching steps could be easily heard. The five magic users prepared themselves to meet the visitor, in other words they revised mentally their most destructive and terrible spells. A light appeared not far away from them, followed by a figure emerging from a blind bend. Merlyn raised his right hand and screamed: "Who or what are you?". The question was quite silly, indeed, but it was the right one for the occasion. "It's me, The Collector, just me, honorable Merlyn", replied the shadow. Merlyn breathed in relief, "We weren't expecting you here", was the cold reply. "Yes, I know, but since you have left the Crystal Cave are passed so many days that me and the others were slightly worried, somebody had to come and see what was happening...", replied the new guilder. Merlyn wasn't totally satisfied by the answer, maybe because he was still shocked for the unexpected visit, just after a good pair of seconds he realized that those words were quite strange. "What do you mean? We are here just since few hours!", replied astonished Joker. "Few hours? A week has passed since your Call of The Guilders!" "There must have been some temporal extravaganza here!" "These black walls are so strange..." "Somehow I don't feel at my ease among them!" "Good sign! The Sunstone must be near!", Merlyn always knew how to find the best side of bad news. There was actually something strange in those caverns, something not easy to grasp or to describe, for sure the preoccupation for some rumours had turned into something similar to quiet panic, even for those well trained minds. The cavern, or something inside them, the absence of light, the total silence, the cold and wet air or whatever, seemed to exaggerate feelings and sensations, an unnatural place with supernatural powers, it seemed, as if the same Sunstone contained somewhere in those tunnels, had given them a ray of its divine properties. In a world with an its own time, the same flow of human vibes seemed to run in a distorted way. Strangely enough all the six guilders gathered there didn't seem to take too much care of those odd and obscure phenomena, their excitement for the mission was killing every trace of caution and prudence... Zulkir Maligor and The Collector discussed a long about the possible location of the Sunstone, they were the maximum experts on the matter and the whole team was depending on their decisions to solve the seemingly impossible puzzle of those galleries. All around the walls arcane and mysterious scribbles and signs were drawn, they didn't seem to be words of any known language, they didn't seem to be words at all, not being represented by any series of fixed signs. They weren't even images or pictures, they didn't seem to represent anything or to have any kind of meaning. In those signs anyway the secret to find the passage to the Sunstone location had to stay. Zulkir Maligor studied them for long and came to the conclusion that they were signs of another world or another era, they hadn't anything of this world, not even the display logic. Just some parts of the walls were covered by them and only some walls which didn't seem to be made of normal rock. Time seemed caged in that absurd labyrinth and with it logic and rationality were lost. After discussions and studies, after theories and researches, after, most of all, long walks that seemed to bring always to the same place, the six Guilders realized that they were completely lost. Merlyn, not approving the situation and the relative feeling decided to call the Souls of the Elected Dead Men. Only few magicians in the world were able to call the Elected Ones and also for them this had to be a painful and terrible effort. It was just at the beginning of the preparatory spell when he realized that his powers didn't work any more! All the magicians tried to invoke an elemental spirit or to cast a simple spell, by nobody succeed. The Guilders were nude and lost, not even their magic power seemed able to help them. After many attempts, exhausted and somehow worried they collapsed asleep to the ground. 2 A woman from nowhere A day, a week or a month later, one after one, slowly, confusingly, each Guilder reopened his eyes, giving a new glance at the world of consciousness. They had mysteriously fallen asleep for a reason that no one of them could understand, not even Merlyn, whose commanding abilities seemed to vacillate. There was something with them, anyway. In the dark chamber at the cross among three corridors there was a new yellow light blinking from the dead end of a short blind passage. All at once the Guilders looked at the approaching light and all together they saw a woman behind it. She wasn't extraordinary beautiful, as every woman seems to be in certain silly fantastic stories, nevertheless she was far from being bad looking and somehow her eyes had conquered all the awakening wizards. In an unnatural silence of astonishment, The Collector, who was discovered later to be a remarkable viveur, found the spirit of finding the first words. "Am I allowed to interrogate a beautiful woman like you?". All the others looked at him with surprise, for sure that was one of the most original way to begin a discussion in that circumstance. The woman seemed to appreciate (Zulkir took note of the new technique) and smiled: "My name is Phoenix, no relations with the bird". Merlyn grasped the situation willing to start a deep interrogation, without wondering that it wasn't exactly normal to meet in that place a woman speaking his own language. "Do you know where's the Sunstone", asked the founder of the Guild with impatience. "The Sunstone? I don't know what you're talking about". At this moment Zulkir Maligor noticed that some logic passage had been forgotten in that surreal discussion. He explained to Phoenix the basic facts about their quest. Having listened with curiosity the woman, smiling at The Collector, said: "I have been here for much time and I'm sure there's nothing similar to your stone in this mountain, I know every corridor and every passage, I'm here to find a sort of scent, of which there seem to be trace only in the Black Mountain. I'll sell it in my home lands, when I've collected enough of it". "A new scent? Has it some magical power? A life potion?", asked Medwyn interested. "Oh no, surely not... It's something with totally different use! Just smell, I've it on my body", Phoenix smiled mischievously. That was enough to light the heart, and something else, of the six guilders. They looked one another suspiciously wondering who had better chances to conquer the woman and how they could win in this new kind of love battle. None of them remembered that the quest for the Sunstone seemed failed. The mysterious powers of the Black Mountain, which seemed to magnify feelings and desires, seemed to have boosted what were just normal sexual tendencies but they couldn't imagine or conceive that, facing what the thought to be the most wonderful woman ever appeared in the universe. Phoenix smiled with coquetry noticing the effect of her scent on those men and realized that she could pretend even more than what she thought for its trade. Merlyn, old but not immune to a certain kind of fascination, asked from where such beautiful women might come. Phoenix smiled again and answered: "Oh, thanks you noble sir, I come from the Misdeeds Lands, at the south of the continent". "I am from the Misdeeds Lands too!", almost shouted Zulkir Maligor, rising the surprise and the irritation of the other Guilders and unable to control himself and his desires. "Nice to hear that", replied cold Phoenix smiling to The Collector. Zulkir Maligor started to hate his comrade. For some hours the Guilders continued to interrogate and to chat with Phoenix, trying to be brilliant and to rise her conquering smile in any way. She was polite with everybody but her interest seemed to run towards The Collector, who was skilled enough to be able to control the favorable situation. The real reason of their presence there had been totally forgotten, for the first time in its history, the Guild, a remarkable part of it, was completely paralyzed and unable to decide and to act. The charm of an averagely attractive woman, in an utterly unusual place, had been enough. At a certain moment, suddenly, Phoenix stopped herself and screamed excited: "Hei! I remember now that Sunstone! I know where it is!". In a first moment the mages looked at her with surprise, when they remembered who, what and why, they asked for explanations and Phoenix explained. "It's a strange object, I'd forgot it, It must be not far from this gallery, Follow me!". They followed her, the enthusiasm for the Quest had grabbed their attention back, maybe for the fact five of them seemed to have lost many hopes with Phoenix, maybe because light was shining back into their minds. With increasing excitement the Guilders reached the room where the Sunstone had to be. Quite a normal cave, a sort of enlargement of dead end tunnel. On the ground, in the dust, an object of unknown nature was laying. Merlyn took it carefully, as if he were handling the most precious object in the world, as indeed it had to be. It was a sort of blue square, smaller than an hand, and quite thin, made with a strange glossy substance. It was partly covered by a little shiftable and holed slab of metal, covering both the sides of the square. In one of the sides there was a circle of metal inserted right in the center of the square object. Its weight was irrelevant and on a face it had a strange writing and a bizarre drawing of a maniacal grinning round face. Zulkir Maligor, expert of dead languages and disciple of the Peto himself, the One Who Knew All The Languages Of The World, tried to decrypt the arcane word. "It seem to be in Illis! One of the oldest language we know... to say the truth we don't even know if it was really a language. We have hardly discovered the number of its letters, which seems to oscillate in a odd way, depending on dialects, maybe, or on simple historical mistakes. I should consult my books in order to decrypt this very mysterious word." Phoenix interrupted Zulkir Maligor and declared: "There's nothing to consult, those letters mean "Sunstone", I'd interpreted it in my previous trips here. You have found what you were looking for, but now, if that doesn't annoy you, I'd like to sleep, I am very tired". She looked at The Collector with an eloquent inviting smile. Zulkir Maligor, once again humiliated, started to hate both The Collector and Phoenix. There was something unusual in all the matter, the same Phoenix was a mysterious and disquieting woman. Nobody remembered that in a first moment she seemed sure of not knowing anything about the Sunstone, nobody wondered how possibly she could know the meaning of that writing. She invited again everybody to have a rest. Merlyn wasn't particularly interested in having a rest, he started to wonder what the mysterious object might have been. "It must be a magic object, I've never seen something similar" "Maybe its a new kind of coin!" "Oh, and what do you think to buy with it? You idiot!" "It could be some kind of weird machine" Discussions continued for some hours, the mages tried to examine the arcane tool, the stone of the Gods, which hadn't that much of the stone, till when Gan'Alv suggested that in the world of the Gods stones could be right like that one, they were different from their own mortal ones. He was covered by insults and somehow the discussion ended. The mages stood silently staring one another without noticing that in the meantime Phoenix and The Collector were disappeared. "I think I'm going to sleep, I'm tired", suggested Medwyn and in few minutes they were all sleeping hardly, on the same ground were the mythical Sunstone was laying, forgotten and half covered by dust. 2The misdeed hour While the others were sleeping Zulkir Maligor woke up. He checked if his mates were really in the lands of oblivion and he picked up the Sunstone. He examined it carefully, it was surely something from a weird and different intelligent living form, it could be something from a incredibly far past, where the eyes of History cannot look. He realized that the Sunstone had to have some unvaluable power, if not a present of the Gods, it could be a relic of the farthest past. Being interested in history and prehistory Zulkir couldn't prevent himself from desiring the Sunstone for some deep and complete study. It was an unique occasion, he looked at the others, he breathed thoughtfully and he decided to steal the Sunstone and escape, in order to study it in a forgotten angle of the continents for the rest of his life. The Guild was important, even for a man like him who hadn't any natural talent towards Magik, but it wasn't all. He realized in those seconds that his life was justified by knowledge, only knowledge, and he was sure that the Sunstone was the most powerful mean to gain it. He looked again at it, the square and neat angles, the strange glossy substance... such an object couldn't not contain the most incredible revelations! He heard some steps, he looked around with panic in the eyes, two figures were coming towards him from the dark corridor at the entrance of the hall. He threw the Sunstone and himself to the ground, pretending to sleep. The Collector and Phoenix stepped in silently, Zulkir heard them whispering. "They are sleeping" "Take the Sunstone, Be silent!" "Are you sure we have got to do it?" "Yes! Sure! The Sunstone must have some incredible power! It's so strange..." "But with this I'll be banned from the Guild. They will never forgive me, they'll chase me everywhere" "Is it important? The Magic Guild is a bunch of kids compared to the power the Sunstone may give us!". The situation for Zulkir Maligor was completely changed, The Collector and Phoenix wanted to steal the Sunstone, he couldn't permit that, in few seconds he decided what to do. He went up, he raised his voice and screamed menacing: "What are you doing?". Surprised they turned towards him, without sensible words in the mouth, some of the other guilders, awaken by Zulkir's shouts, moved lazily in their couch. Zulkir continued, theatrically: "You were trying to steal the divine Sunstone! Blame on you! Blame on you!". His last words were an almost paroxystic liberatory howl. There was much more than indignation and anger. There were also the frustration for his own failed theft and the rancour towards the duo. After some frantic and confused discussions, excuses and accuses Merlyn authoritatively raised his voice. He asked what was happening, Zulkir Maligor answered and The Collector negated. The matter was serious, someone had tried to cheat The Magic Guild and the honour of all the Guilders, this was an outrageous and horrible idea for Merlyn, he tried to investigate, his interrogation with The Collector had been deep and painful but at the end truth was established. In normal conditions such a crime was punished with the immediate expulsion from the Magic Guild, this was what Merlyn actually had decided at the first moment, but Phoenix, in the attempt of defending herself and his loved The Collector (true loved seemed to be born in the nasty couple!), reminded that the strange and supernatural effect of the Black Mountain had made them act in a way they didn't actually wanted to. The problem was complex, Merlyn understood her points and thought for days about the sagest solution. 2 Where ends, begins For days the seven beings remained in the caverns of the mountain, the atmosphere was always silent and strained, Merlyn was deciding what to do with the guilty couple (always guarded carefully by the others) and with the same Sunstone. The opinions were different in the party, Zulkir Maligor wanted to bring the arcane objects with them, in order to study and discover its properties, he also wanted The Collector's banishment from the Guild and the death penalty for Phoenix. Gan'Alv suggested that the couple had to be left to its destiny and the stone destroyed. Jason preferred to let Phoenix join the Magic Guild, without caring of the destiny of the God's stone. Medwyn, finally, pretended to forgive both The Collector and Phoenix and bring to the Crystal Cave the Sunstone. The decision was hard, Merlyn mumbled for long hours and finally he announced, in the total silence of expectation. "This adventure, my dear mates, has taught us something. There are powers and forces we can't pretend to control, there are places were our presence is forbidden and dangerous. We shall leave here the Sunstone, where it has rested for millenia and where it has to remain. I forgive The Collector for his attempt of betrayal, as he couldn't control himself properly in the bowels of this magic mountain. Nevertheless he has to train himself better and more and for this reason he is allowed to stay in the Magic Guild under the condition of a long, hard training. Phoenix is a woman and women too often are dangerous for men, but we can't decide about her and her life, even if she has not been fair with us. We'll leave her to her way, out of this mountain, which has to be hindered from the view and the attention of mortal eyes. This is what I have decided, this is what has to happen". While leaving the mountain, the seven heroes remained in their individual silence, with different nuances and shadows, while the influence of that magic world was fading slowly. They were all thinking about their own experience and they all knew that there was something absurd and pointless in that whole adventure, something unbearable and overwhelming, upon which there couldn't be control. Silently, without stopping or saluting, Phoenix departed from the group, walking away with her own mysteries and some tears in the heart. A huge rock was placed on the entrance of Black Mountain, hindered from the arms of the world. Inside, lost in the dust, a grinning face smiled on the Sunstone, its secret had survived also to this intrusion and more time could pass, the safer it was.