Destiny of Fire: The Normality (WotP)

Chapter 11: Almaroz

That reminded him of the day when he was assigned the task of cursing the tridents by the storm-seekers, and he smiled.

-~•~-

It had been a long time since the storm-seekers decided to call upon Almaroz, and the last time they did so was to fight in a battle that would determine what the future held for any and all people, so whatever they had called him for now shook the poor wizard to his very core.

Almaroz stood in front of the great door that looked similar to classic dungeon doors, something that one would normally find in a great adventure, which made Almaroz smile as he remembered being at the age of thirty, his years where he started adventuring, after he couldn't bare to sit down and not let his legs move and not let his eyes see new things, and not expand his knowledge to new people.

He grinned as he remembered his old apprentice, one who had gladly taken in any bit of knowledge he could from books and his master, Almaroz himself. The apprentice's name was Kestrel if he remembered correctly. Kestrel was never fit to do his duties. Sure, the young apprentice could fold robes, and mop the floor better than any other, but at the end of the day, when Kestrel came face to face with a great dragon, one Almaroz could easily defeat, he perished, the dragon ripping him apart mercilessly. He was never cut out to be an adventurer, nor a fighter, and never a wizard.

Almaroz brought his hand to rest firmly against the great door, and then took a deep breath in and then out. Almaroz knocked three times on the door, and suddenly he heard a horn in the distance. It would blow once to signal a stranger, someone the storm-seekers would have to invite in and make them join The Spreaders, it would blow two times if it was one of The Spreaders themselves, four times if it was another storm-seeker, and three times if it was Almaroz. If the horn blew a specific amount of times past four, then it would signal danger. Almaroz listened to the horn blow three times, then the door opened immediately.

A kind-looking, young storm-seeker, probably an apprentice (Almaroz didn't know the storm-seekers too well, so he didn't know if they had apprentices or not), was on the other side of the door. It was a young girl, looking around the age of eighteen. She had long, smooth dark black hair and it looked like it hadn't been brushed in a while. She was trying to hide her eyes, but Almaroz could see the brown coloring of them.

"They have been waiting for you, good sir." The young girl murmured.

Almaroz nodded to her, and moved inside before directing his gaze at the door closing behind him. He looked back in front of himself and saw a long and large hallway that was made of stone and looked worn down.

Once the wizard entered a large meeting room of sorts, where four storm-seekers sat, the girl that had invited him in murmured again, "your seat is over there." She pointed to a large seat made of carved slabs of stone propped up against one another to make a sitting place.

Almaroz moved to sit down as he heard one of the storm-seekers scowl at the girl, "don't murmur! Have you forgotten all of our lessons?"

The room had similar architecture to the hallway, but had a large lantern hanging from the center of the room. At one end there was a tall stone chair, similar to Almaroz's own. In it sat the oldest storm-seeker, the leader of the entire group. Almaroz was simply delighted to have the honor of being in her presence, she was probably the only person more powerful than Almaroz, but due to her old age, and the fact that only a few rare people even knew she was alive, Almaroz was still the most powerful being in the world. She was at the other end of the table than Almaroz, and the way she was seated would make anyone think she was royalty.