Only Time Will Tell

Chapter 6: Volkan

DWARF VILLAGE**

ANUBIS**

"You can have more food" the king offered, on noticing our savage eating manner.

"Thank you your highness. Please forgive my eating manner, I have not eaten a good meal in days now" I managed to say as the others were still digging deep into the large pile of pork before them.

"So what brought you to this side of the world..eh?(he asked focusing his looks at me)

The wizards I know, never leave their school, unless they need to be somewhere important"

"Well I was on an important mission, but me being here was because we were kidn*pped ...by your DAUGHTER " I stated with the aim of making some clarifications.

"Ho ho ho (the king laughed)

Well please I'm sorry for that"

"Oh yes that reminds me, I need to figure out our location " I muttered as I fumbled through my bagpack and brought out my map.

The facial expression of the king when he saw the map was deadening.

"Where did you get that" he asked with his face and voice holding no emotion.

"Well it belongs to me..why?" I asked surprised, clutching the map tighter.

"Do you know what it is? " the king asked peering into my eyes.

"It's a map of course " I answered sharply.

"Well that's half correct, but do you know what it is? " he asked the second time.

This time I wasn't sure what to reply.

"It's a map...I guess" I muttered

"Why do I get the feeling that you don't really know what it is?(he said as he gulped down a large quantity of beer from his mug)

There's a spell to reveal, the true identity of something right? (He asked and I just nodded like a little child)

Use it then, because that map you possess was crafted by the dwarves and of course the witches too, during the war" he stressed.

Everywhere was calm now. My colleagues who were eating where now focused in the conversation.

I dropped the map on the table and took a very deep breath, then placed my hands on it

"se revelare verum tuae" I said pronouncing a reality spell on the map and...

And nothing happened.

"And it just a map" I said disappointed.

"Oh is it?" A voice spoke from behind. A very much familiar voice.

"In the name of the gods!!" I exclaimed as I turned almost immediately to the direction of the voice.

The figure bearing the voice glowed, radiating blue lights and I could see through him"

"For the love of hathor!" Reemed exclaimed in disbelief

"Took you quite a long time to figure this out!!" He said mocking me.

To satisfy my curiosity, I tried touching him, but my hand swayed through him, like he wasn't there.

"What witchery is this? How is this possible? " I questioned in disbelief.

"I'm not physically here. What you're seeing is just a figment of myself, it's called telepresence.

And that map is a telepresence device." The figure said smiling at me.

"Abubakar my very good friend!!!" The king exclaimed excitedly when moallim turned towards him.

"Your highness!!! " moallim exclaimed bowing to him.

"Rise, my dear friend " the king said beaming with smiles.

"I have never seen him this happy " I thought in my head as they exchanged pleasantries.

"How long has it been now?" Moallim asked excitedly, directing the question to the king

"It’s been decades now. The last time we saw face to face was after the war. You never visited again like you promised. You missed watching me grow from a little boy to a man now" the king said frowning.

"What war?" Reem and I asked almost simultaneously.

Everywhere was silent as the question was thrown.

It must've been really bad, judging from the facial expression of the king.

"Hmmm!!! (Moallim sighed, then continued)

For you to understand this tale, we'll need to start from the very beginning.

In the very beginning, only 5 types of beings existed.

The genius engineers, the dwarves (he said and smiled at the king)

The noble bloods, the elves

The fire breathers, the dragons. Very fine but difficult creatures.

The scholars cursed with knowledge, the wizards

And of course the humans.

Every other creature existing on earth are just aftermath of the war.

And We all lived and coexisted in harmony

And as the years went by, a prophecy came of an evil, in the form of a being that would destroy the peace between us and the world with it.

We all thought the evil would come from the humans, as they secluded themselves from the other beings over the years, striving to be better than others.

But little did we know it'll come from the most friendly and trusted beings, the wizards..."

"That explains why the dwarves fled earlier, they now see us as monsters." I muttered interrupting moallim.

"Years later, the evil happened.

A young promising wizard, who's name I rather not mention was born.

More disappointingly he was my student (he said and bowed his head in shame)

The boy was very unique no doubt.

And as he grew older, his thirst for knowledge and greed for power became insatiable.

He had adopted the human culture, striving to be above everyone else.

I noticed all this but turned a blind eye.

As time went by, he began to master astral projection and other black magics, travelling through time.

Initially we didn't notice the effect of this.

I had grown attached to him, that I always covered him up before the council of wizards, thinking I was doing him good.

And with time, black magic darkened his soul.

He began to get himself disciples, seducing students who's mind were susceptible, with his false doctrines, blaspheming our ways and teachings.

When the council of wizards tried to take action against him, he revolted and broke out with his disciples, half of the students we had.

Armed to the teeth, obviously prepared for war, they began to s*******r Everyone who refused to submit to their doctrines.

Some he killed, some he transformed to creatures that has never been known on earth.

Some of the dwarves he transformed to goblins with his dark magic

Some elves, he transformed to orcs

The wild dogs he transformed into werewolves, and so on.

And all this creatures, he recruited into his army

It was at this point, that we couldn't endure such abominations any longer and we fought back, hence the war.

Forging an alliance with the elves, dwarves and the humans, we took the fight to him.

Many of his soldiers fell as the war raged.

With fear that he'd lose the battle, he sought an unholy treaty with the most greedy beings on earth, the humans. Promising them heaven and earth, so they'd withdraw from the fight, and as expected they agreed (he stared at the siblings and looked away in disgust)

With the humans out of the alliance, we began to fall in numbers, as they had an upper hand in the war.(he paused, as if seeking for permission to continue)

They say, desperate times, calls for desperate measures.

As we fell, the council of wizards forged a two edge sword (using the breath and scales of a dragon) that would slay him, as dark magic had made him invincible..."

"But swords are two edged?" I asked foolishly, interrupting moallim

"...the sword is two edged in the sense, that it could only be wielded by the one whom it was meant to kill and the rightful person meant to wield it.

I was the one meant to wield the sword, since I was more attached to him than anyone else.

But I couldn't find myself doing it. I couldn't find myself killing him, so I sought for a much better alternative that pleased me.

The war raged on till we eventually crossed paths, and with the help of a few of my loyal friends, we imprisoned him in the astral realm,

Only to be released, once a white wizard or witch mentions his name. (He paused then continued)

This is why it is forbidden to mention his name"

“This is huge. How is it that there’s barely no record of this, or that we’ve never been taught about an event this huge?” I couldn’t fix the puzzle

“It’s not something we’re proud of, so why teach it? It was the darkest time of our lives, so it’s better off forgotten”

"Moallim I'm so sorry for my mistake. If I had known about this, I would have never used the time spell." I apologized sincerely

"The deed has been done. That's why you must go to Horeb for cleansing.

The cleansing ritual will not only erase the spells you've used. It'll also remove the knowledge of time travel from your head, so you'll not be tempted to use it again."

"I'm not sure I can take up this task by myself "I said disappointingly

"Don't be afraid.

That's why I'm here, to guide you (he assured me)

Moreover, the king from now henceforth will delegate you some soldiers to assist you. (He said and the king nodded in agreement).

Have your rest now, for tomorrow you'll ride to the Elf kingdom to get yourself more crew" he concluded, giving me a little hope.

"And oh...lest I forget,

The elves are great archers and they never miss, not even on purpose".