Word: theurgy

 

theurgy

\ THEE-ur-jee \  , noun;

1. the working of a divine or supernatural agency in human affairs.

2. a system of beneficent magic practiced by the Egyptian Platonists and others.

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               “I thought you said they wouldn’t chase us!”  Lars shouted as the group ran.  Crude goblin arrows whizzed past them, the crooked shafts blessedly inaccurate, even in the narrow passage.

                “I did, and they shouldn’t be.”  Lyra said.  “I don’t know why they are.”  The hoard of goblins was gaining on the group slowly, but steadily.

                “Maybe it has something to do with this damn trinket.”  Lars said.  He clutched the thing tucked away in his belt, suddenly very tempted to just toss it aside.

                “Watch it.”  Caruss said suddenly.  He pushed Lars aside just as an arrow flew past the space where the swordsman’s head had been not a moment before.  The action did make him stumble a bit though, letting the pursuers gain distance. 

                Lars slashed at the nearest goblin.  The attack only managed to nick it, but it was enough to gain enough time to keep going and put some kind of distance between them. 

                “Grena, are you going to do something soon?”  Lyra asked.  Grena had been running ahead, and was swinging her beads at a furious rate.  The string glowed ever brighter as she gathered energy into it.

                “Just give me a minute.”  She said, her eyes closed in concentration. 

                “I doubt we have a minute.”  Lyra said.  She stopped running just long enough to fit an arrow to her bow, turn, and shoot the closest available target.  The arrow plunged deep into one of the many goblins.  It fell, and several more tripped over their fallen comrade, slowing their pursuit for a few seconds while they recovered.

                “Ok, I’m ready.” Grena called out after a few more seconds of charging her spell.  She stopped dead and turned around to face the oncoming hoard.  She waited for the other three to pass her, then unleashed her spell.

                A fine blade-like wave of arcane energy rushed out from the string of beads, and headed not towards the goblins, but the ceiling.  The magical energy splashed against the rock, appearing to dissipate uselessly.  Lars looked ready to comment on the lack of effect until the rock started to shake and rumble.  Soon, massive piles of dirt and rock fell, and a large section of the corridor collapsed.  The goblins that hadn’t been crushed by the fallen stones had been separated from the group.  Grena collapsed, gasping for breath.  That spell had taken what little energy she had left to cast.  The others soon followed suit, taking a much needed rest after all they had been through.

                “Nice one.”  Caruss said between long gasps of breath.

                “Thanks.”  Grena responded in kind.

                “You know that won’t hold them for long, right?”  Lyra said.  Indeed, they could already hear the scraping and clanging of the goblins working their way through the rock.

                “Well then, let’s not be here when they do.”  Lars said.  He slowly got to his feet and started walking towards the exit.  The others slowly brought themselves to their feet and followed him. 

                It seemed to take hours for them to reach the exit of the corridor, but they finally exited, emerging into the abandoned temple.  Once the passage had been sealed off again, they once more collapsed, too tired to move much more.

                “Oh man, am I glad to be out of there.”  Lars said.  The others nodded and groaned their agreement.  Lars pulled the object they had retrieved out from his belt and looked at it. 

                It was a necklace with what looked to be a silver chain.  A small golden bottle hung from it, the polished yellow metal glinting in the midday light.  Intricate patterns covered the bottle, carved with detail even a master craftsman would be hard pressed to copy. 

                “So, what’s it this thing?”  He asked.  He made to pull the bottle off the chain.

                “Hold it.”  Grena said.  Lars stopped dead.

                “What?  Something wrong?”

                “That thing’s magic.  I can tell.”  While her ability to detect magic wasn’t her strong suit, she could at least tell that much.  “Let me check it out before opening it.”

                “Fine, fine.”  Lars said.  He tossed it to Grena.  She studied the patterns for a bit before taking her beads and falling into a deep, rhythmic breathing for longer spells.  A small book popped up next to her.

                “Hold on, I thought you said conjuring was hard.”  Lyra said.

                “It is.  That was object summoning.  That’s easy.”

                “So why didn’t you just do that?”

                “Because I don’t want to be accused of stealing.  The best way to do object summoning is something you already own and know about, like this book.  Otherwise, you just take something at random, which is considered stealing.  Since I don’t have a pile of arrows handy, you’re out of luck.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start.”  Grena closed her eyes; put the bottle to her forehead, and her finger to the book.  Slowly at first, then with increasing speed, her finger started to move along the page, leaving a trail of purple ink behind it.

                “What is she doing now?”

                “She’s writing the enchantment.”  Caruss said, “It makes it easier for her.  Better get comfy though, this could take awhile.” 

It took almost two hours before Grena was finished with her work.  When she was done, she set to work examining the runes she had written.  As her eyes poured over the pages that had been filled, the color drained from her face and her eyes widened.  Her hands were trembling when she finally put the book down.

“Well?”  Caruss asked.

“It’s bad.  Really bad.”

“How?”

“I guess you can call it a god cage.  See, what it does is it finds a requested god, takes it, and traps it inside the bottle.  Then the user has full access to that god’s power.”

“Seriously?  That sounds amazing.”  Lars said.  His eyes were alight with the possibilities.

“There’s a catch though.  Keeping a god contained takes a lot of power.  That power comes from two places.  One is the world at large.  The second is converted from the user’s mind.”

“And that means?”  Lyra asked.

“It makes the user go insane.  This thing gives the power of a god to a madman.”  None of them spoke as they considered her words.  It wasn’t a very pleasant thought for any of them.

“Can it be changed?”  Lars asked, “Like, make it so the person doesn’t go crazy or something?  You know, change the power source.”

“I suppose so.  But it would take a master enchanter.  As far as I know, there’s only one person alive who even comes close.”

“Well, maybe we should pay him a visit.  I mean, think of the possibilities.”  Lars said, thinking very hard about them.

“I guess so, but…”  Grena stared

“Maybe also change the forced nature of it.”  Lyra interrupted, “Make it so the god can go in willingly and lend his or her power to a person in exchange for something.”

“That, and let the god retain the ability to communicate with others.”  Caruss added.  “Once altered, this could be the single most important artifact ever recovered.”

“So, I guess we’re not getting paid for this one?  Well, can’t say that’s too terrible, considering what we get out of it.”  Lars said.  He was almost drooling at the prospects of having a god’s power.

“Um, excuse me, but…”  Grena said, but was largely ignored.  The other three were excitedly chattering about the possibilities.  Finally though, she sent up a bolt of arcane power into the sky, which burst loudly, cutting short the conversation.  “As I was trying to say, the only man who I know of that can even attempt to alter this thing lives in Esline, which means only I can go to meet him.  And furthermore, he’s not exactly an easy person to meet.  Plus, there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to do anything, even if I do somehow manage to gain a meeting with him.  And even if he can, the Circle will likely want to keep it in the city to protect it.  It’s unlikely that they’ll let me have it again, no matter what happens.”

“So, no god powers?”  Lars asked.

“No god powers.”

“Oh.”  He hung his head in disappointment.

“So, since you’re going to the infamous Magical City, what does that mean for the rest of us?”  Lyra asked.

“I don’t know what you’ll be doing, but the three of us have a meeting place set out for times like this.”  Grena said, making it clear that she didn’t want Lyra around too much longer.

“Right.”  Caruss said.  “You’ll contact us when you’re ready to meet?”

“Like always.”  She said.  “But first, let’s go back to town, I’ve got a long way to go, and I’d like a good night’s rest before I do.”  Nobody could complain about that.  The four of them headed off towards the nearest town, each of them thinking about what the future might have in store for them.

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Hey, remember the last time I used these guys, I cut off just before a bit fight?  Well, here's what happens AFTER the fight, MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Well, anyways, I think what I'm going to do at some point is take that last one, this one, and stitch them together with the fight in the middle of them.  Then I hall post it on another sight, and link it to here.  It might not happen any time soon, but it should happen.

Other than that, is that something like an overarching plot line I see forming?  Why, I think it is.  Hmmm...  What ever could that mean?  And will it go anywhere at all?  Only time will tell.