Magic Spawn Origins

Magic Spawn: Chapter 25

by Meredith Skye

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Torches dimly lit the circular stone chamber, where the wizard Molan towered over Kyran near the fire-pit deep within the hill. A few feet away, looking like a princess in her long blue dress, stood the boy's mother, Lauretta, as if frozen in time.

"I said I'd go with you!" said Kyran, confused at the anger Molan displayed. All Kyran had asked was that Molan set his mother free first.

"Too much of what is human remains in you," said Molan. "I fear that it will render you useless. It must be erased."

This sent a chill up young Kyran's spine. "No," he said stubbornly. The ten year old boy stood his ground. The necromancer's bald head and dark, marble-like skin reminded Kyran of a lizard.

Molan signaled two of the skeletons and they left their posts guarding the door and came over to where Molan and Kyran stood arguing.

"Hold him," Molan told the skeleton.

With efficiency, they marched towards Kyran. Feebly, he lifted his rattan sword and attempted to hit one, but the skeleton caught hold of the rounded blade and threw it against the wall, like it was a toy. The skeletons grabbed Kyran by the arms, even though he tried to slip past them. "Stop it!" he cried. In the end, Kyran couldn't move because they had him in their grip.

"Let me put this in other words," said the wizard. "Your humanity is holding you back—it must be destroyed."

"No!" said Kyran.

"All I need is a human life," said Molan, gesturing over to Lauretta, Kyran's mother, who stood immobilized by a spell. "And I have one. Her blood, combined with a little of mine will complete the spell and then we can move forward."

"But it will kill her?" asked Kyran.

"That's correct," said the wizard.

"No! I won't let you do that!" cried Kyran. "She mustn't be harmed." He struggled uselessly against the skeletons.

"All right," said the wizard, patiently. "Then--you must submit to me. Let me into your mind and I may be able to do what needs to be done without the spell."

"And without harming Lauretta?" asked Kyran.

A little exasperated, the wizard said, "Perhaps, if you cooperate. One way or the other, it has to be done."

Erase everything that was human in Kyran? The thought made him ill and he found breathing difficult. Wouldn't that destroy everything that he ever was?

What else made him ... Kyran?

"Your choice," said the wizard.

Kyran took a deep breath. He couldn't let the wizard hurt his mom. "All right," said Kyran. "I'll submit."

The wizard took a step forward eagerly. "You must surrender completely. You mustn't hold anything back," he said.

Kyran nodded, choking back his emotions. But once he'd let the wizard erase his mind, would he care about Lauretta? Would the wizard kill her anyway? What choice did he really have?

Kyran didn't see any other way. "Yes, all right."

The wizard nodded in satisfaction. "Then relax and open your mind," he said.

The skeletons pushed Kyran to his knees, where he braced for the mental attack. When it came, Kyran screamed in pain. Thoughts and memories flooded him that were not his own. Brutal acts, murders, blood. Pain raked through his mind.

"Stop fighting me!" came the wizard's faint voice.

Kyran tried to calm himself, letting the wizard's memories fill him, retreating further and further back into his own mind, sickened by the visions unfolding to him. His mind reeled, fighting for survival.

The visions threatened to overwhelm him.

He had to let go. Had to. There was no other solution.

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