The Clearing: Origins

Chapter 22

One simple task and you bungled it-again. Imbeciles! Your stupidity has massively set me back.

The Four were in their hallowed chamber but did not sit in their elaborate chairs. The group hovered in the center space where supplicants once groveled for their favor. No one had come to serve under the Four in months. They prostrated alone before the One, a pitiful state from their once-mighty unit.

A gleeful Odus knelt with them, watching and waiting for the outcome.

I will tell you what this blunder has caused. The boy has ascended, his magic no longer contained like that of a child. Per our bargain, I needed his magic to remain contained until I had the time to locate the second artifact in case the first was not enough. Instead, you push him into adulthood, making the task trickier. This should not have happened! He isn't the right age!

There are artifacts that can subdue a One Magi... interesting. The tidbit of information fascinated Odus. I wonder what they are?

"Have mercy, Great One." Verde raised shaky hands as she gazed around the empty room. "We wore the boy down bit by bit without suspicion as you ordered, but situations beyond our control interfered."

Looking down, Odus smirked.

He experienced an emotional breakdown, and you did not capitalize on it! You ceased to manipulate him through his altered dreams!

"He subconsciously created the content, but now he no longer believes in the message the dreams represented." Verde shook with fear. "Somehow, his guilt is no longer a factor."

I had mercy and forgave the last mistake! Per our agreement, you should have found something else to torment him with.

Odus remembered the previous 'mercy' of the One. Roe and Verde had found the pain excruciating. As the favorite, his punishment wasn't as harsh, but the experience allowed him to spew more poison in Roe's ears about Verde.

I will not be so merciful this time. Who is responsible for the thief's ascension? The One's voice was like ice, cold and unforgiving

Minister Roe glared at Verde, who glared right back. Roe then gazed toward Odus and gave a slight nod. They forged an unspoken agreement with none the wiser of who really tampered with Verde's spells.

"Verde," they said in unison.

Verde threw back her cowl, her dark eyes fearful as she gazed in disbelief at Roe and Odus. "What? No! They lie! I didn't-"

Two against one, Verde. For that reason, I also find you guilty. The One's voice grew colder. You are dismissed. I need you no longer.

Verde's eyes grew wide, and her face wrinkled with pain as she rose to her feet. "No! Mercy, Great One!" She screeched as her body began to glow. The witch turned to Roe, hand outstretched before she stiffened. The brightness faded, and she crumpled to the floor.

Dead.

Odus and Roe gazed at their dead comrade with expressionless faces.

"The cost of failure," said Roe.

Her punishment fit the crime. Failure is never rewarded. I'm not fully prepared to take on Victor in his new capacity, but if I strike quickly, perhaps one will be enough-

Victor gazed out of the palace window at the endless expansion of sand and sun. The desert was clean, almost stark in its simplicity. The landscape, a barren area with little rain, lacked much vegetation, but the dazzling windblown patterns in the sand more than made up for it. Here stood beauty in its most natural form.