Fog of Redemption - 2. Chapter 2

Fog of Redemption

Chapter 2

“Gilthas Tentrious, otherwise knows as Sylvantrius, please step forward,” spoke an elderly man dressed in deep purple robes. “You are called forth to this council on the grounds that you have broken the Code of Silence. These are grave charges and, if proven guilty, will result in the excommunication from The Order of the Light. Do you understand these charges?”

“Yes High Magnus.”

“How then, do you plea?”

“I am not guilty of breaking the Code, High Magnus. I have told nothing of our kind to anyone. I have been a Dragon Mage of The Order for over three hundred years. Not once have I ever broken the Code, nor would I ever.” Gilthas leaned forward on to the rail of the questioning box. “It is known by this council that I have taken a human lover, and that he is a man. Never, did this council say one word against it. It is not a crime for one of the Order to take a human lover. Many over the ages have done so, though you counsel against it. Not for fear of breaking the Code, but for fear of a broken heart. It is hard to watch a lover grow old and die, while we remain young, but, the Council does not deny us love. This being said, why am I bring brought up on these charges? Where is the proof that I have broken the Code of Silence?”

“Gilthas, this Council cares not that you have taken a lover,” spoke a new voice. The sagely looking man, this time in robes of emerald green, stood up. “I myself have taken countless lovers over the four-thousand years that I have been alive. We of this Council, especially me, trust that you wouldn’t break the Code, but there is proof that you have. We have seen it in the Human’s dreams.”

“Allen,” Gilthas said simply.

“What, who?” asks a third man in deep sapphire robes.

“His name is Allen. My lover. That is his name, and if this Council takes no harm in him serving in the capacity of my lover, then this Council will use his name,” Gilthas said hotly.

“Don’t you presume to tell your betters how to conduct Council business, young man. You are walking on thin ground as it is!” Yelled the final High Magnus in ruby red robes.

Gilthas sighed. He should have known better than to let his flippant tongue get the better of him. High Magnus Roufas always had a short temper, but, was always the case with mages of the High Magnus’ order. Roufus belonged to the war sect, one of four different sects that the Order of the light was divided into. The war sect was a specially trained group of mages that used their art for war. Very few mages ever made it to the war sect because it took so many hundreds of years of training in the magic sect to learn the advanced arts. Young mages were all required to start their training the magic sect, as it taught them the basics of all the magic that a Dragon Mage had to learn. The number of mages dressed in blue robes was far greater than those that were dressed in red for war mages, or green for healers, or purple for spirit masters. Gil himself had only just received his green healers robe a scant ten years ago, and he had been training in the magic sect since he was six. Rumor had it that it had taken Roufas fifteen-hundred years to earn his red robe, and another two-thousand to become High Magnus of his order.

“Please forgive me High Magnus Roufas, I forgot myself,” Gil said as humble as possible. Gil didn’t want to do anything to set Roufus off again. It was a shock to have been summoned before a full council, something that hadn’t been done in over five-hundred years. Whatever the pretence for the summoning was, had been grave indeed. Gil had only ever seen this room in the Citadel of the Light once before, on a dare as a child. The room itself was spacious with high vaulted ceilings, and large dais that the Council sat on. When Gil first entered the high council chambers, he stared in awe at the splendor that was before him. Large, finely woven tapestries huge from the ceiling to the floor, depicting various scenes in the history of the Dragon Mages. The grandest and largest of the tapestries was a scene of Allengar, the first Dragon Mage, standing on a small hill bathed in golden light. Upon closer inspection, Gil noticed that the tread used to make the light, was in fact spun from real gold. Having lived in the human world for so long, he could appreciate the value of such a work of art.

“Of Course you are forgiven,” Said High Magnus Sillanton of the Healing sect. “Now can we carry on with this horrible business?” he asked raising a questioning eyebrow to Roufas. Roufas only grunted his agreement to carry on. “As you know, Gilthas, those at the Castle are always watching the dream’s of humans to make sure we are not forcing our presence upon them. The human mind is very perceptive of such things, and most often, when something mystical, or metaphysical, appears near them for an extended period of time, their psyche will try to tell the rest of the brain. This is most commonly done through dreams, that being the way the psyche communicates with the conscious mind. At first a human may think that he is just having abnormal dreams, and dismiss them as such. However, over a period of time, the conscious mind will begin to understand what the psyche it telling it.”

“Your human lover, Allen, as been having what can only be described as the most horrible of dreams for quite sometime now. It is only a matter of time before your true self is revealed to him. This is the result of you, being so close to him, both physically and emotionally. I would have thought that you could keep better check on your magic than this; as, I had a hand in your training as a mage. I am afraid that I was wrong.”

With a deep sigh he continued. “This in itself isn’t a crime. Young mages are always being summoned back to the castle because they can’t always control their presence around a human. It’s the fact that you have been aware that Allen has been having dreams, and did not end the relationship immediately, that has caused you to commit a crime against the Light. By staying close to him, knowing that he is becoming aware of your true self is violating the Code of Silence.”

“We of this Council can not allow a young mage to let the humans, even if it is only one, know of us. Though the time does draw near, it is not now. You have knowingly endangered over five-thousand years of work to save the human race for a lover.” Sillanton let out another deep sigh. “Gilthas, this pains me to have to do this. You were always like a son to me. As I said, I had a large part in your training. I was always very fond of your mother, and when she was killed by the Dark Magi, I took you as my own son. Maybe that is where I fail. I was always lax on disciplining for you, but I can not afford to do so now.”

“This is a grave matter my son. Before we continue, do you have anything to say in your defense?”

“Yes, honored father.” Gilthas cleared his throat as to be heard by everyone. “I was trained with the very best of our kind and I know my craft well. Many of you on this Council have said that I was the most talented Mage to be born in the last millennium. I would not knowingly put our way in jeopardy. I have always kept careful check on my magic, and in no way lost control of it. Allen has not been having dreams because of me being unable to restrain my magic. I fear however, I that have been the cause of his dreams just the same.”

“Even control to the point where humans can not detect our magic, it still resonates within us. Those humans born with the gift of magic can still sense this. What I fear I have done is woken the gift in Allen, and it is trying to free itself. This would cause dreams of kind he is having.”

“Impossible!” roared Roufas. “There hasn’t been a human mage born two-thousand years. They have all died out! The last human mage was Garven, and on his death bed he made a prophesy that said none shall ever come after him.”

“But it makes sense!” cried Gilthas. “You know he has been having the dreams, but have you looked at his dreams? He dreams of what will be, not what has been. When a human dreams because of a Dragon Mage, he dreams of the past. The human mind has no talent for seeing the future, they can not see it! Only a human mage has that talent. I have been with him when he has had every dream. I have entered his mind, unknown to him, and seen what he has seen. His dreams are the exact same thing that prophesies say will befall the human race. There is no way he can dream that with out being a mage.”

“It is still impossible,” said Roufas.

“No, that is not true,” said Johanus of the Spirit sect.

“What do you mean?” asked Sillanton.

“None of us that are here now was present when Garven died. The only one who was witness to his death was one that was killed later after being exiled from the Order. His crime was blasphemy against the light. The exiled mage thought that man kind was a plague to the world, and worked very hard to remove all human mages from the world. He was witness to Garven’s death, because he caused it. It is true, though, that Garven gave a prophesy on his dying breath. As is with the rule of prophesy, only those who heard know the true meaning of it, though they are compelled to write it down so it will last through the ages. The traitor could have written a false prophesy. I believe he would do this to prevent us from seeking out future human mages. If the gift is not awakened in them by us, it dies, and if none gifted are producing offspring, then the gift all together dies out of the human race.”

“The gift of magic in humans appears very randomly. Sometimes it is passed from father to son, mother to daughter. Other times it may skip a generation or two, and may show up in great grandchildren. With Allen, it could be one of the rarest skips, one that spans over many generations. This is very uncommon though because only those of the most powerful human mages had such a generation skip. It is very unlikely that a dragon mage will come along to awaken the gift if it passed that way.”

“This is very true,” said Queyden of the blue sect. “I have been the keeper of magic for over four-thousand years and only seen this a handful of times. Garven was the last great mage to be born, and he had no known offspring. There are tests that can be run on Allen to see if he has the gift of magic. I can not say that we will test him however. That choice belongs to Gilthas.”

“I know what the test involves. May I have sometime to think about it?”

“Granted,” said Sillanton. “You have until the next moon’s rising, but you must stay here. You will not be permitted to leave the Citadel of the Light. In three days, when the moon rises, we will meet again to hear your decision. You are free to leave, but I warn you not to return to him. Stay in the Citadel Gilthas.”

“Yes High Magnus”

Gilthas turned to leave the Council chambers. He had his own room at the castle when he was a novice mage, but it had been given to a new novice at the end of his training. There were plenty of rooms for traveling mages though, and one was being prepared for him. As he made his way to his room, Gilthas wondered what he had done. It would have been better for him to die than to be wrong about Allen. He was sure that Allen was indeed a human mage, so sure that he would be willing to risk his life over it. It was not his life he was risking though. If Gil is wrong, and he failed the test, Allen would have to be killed. Once a human has full knowledge of a dragon mage there is no way to remove that knowledge except for death.