Magic caused the war. Magic is forbidden. Magic will save us. The Relic Guild is the award nominated first book in The Relic Guild trilogy.
It was said the Labyrinth had once been the great meeting place, a sprawling city at the heart of an endless...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Clara stood her ground.
With half its body still buried in the Retrospective, the worm raised its mouth high, preparing to descend and swallow its enemy whole. Muscles bunching, the wolf prepared to pounce.
"Clara, no!" Van Bam shouted.
But before Clara could ignore the illusionist and launch her attack, she was stopped by a glare of blue light.
It appeared suddenly, blazingly, filling the space between Clara and the demonic worm, a dense, almost palpable light. The wolf recoiled from its glare. The worm hissed putrid breath, its body contracting and shying away. The light shrank and coalesced into the vague shape of a human surrounded by an aura of sky blue. It waved limb-like tendrils that spread from wall-to-wall, separating the combatants.
Clara backed off a few steps. The vision tugged at her memory, its aura and shape, the black eyes that leaked tears of smoke . . .
"The avatar," she heard Van Bam whisper with awe.
Clara knew that was important, but she didn't care; she only wanted to stand her ground, to face this avatar and show it her full might. But energy radiated from the spectre, a force that raised the hairs on the wolf's body and frightened the worm. This energy pushed Clara back a few steps more, and she hated her weakness in the face of it.
A pale tendril of light waved towards the wolf, snaking in the air as it passed over her. Clara followed its path, watching as it engulfed the stone box atop the pedestal in a blue glow.
Van Bam and Samuel stood frozen, transfixed as the avatar's light intensified around the stone box. Both men flinched as the crackle of energy filled the air. It was followed by a low hum. A few paces behind the pedestal, a large disc of shadow had appeared on the floor. The men flinched again and wheeled around as, with a wrenching of stone and a rush of air, a circle of brickwork on the dead end wall crumbled and swirled away into the glassy surface of a circular portal.
Around the pedestal, the aura of blue light sputtered. The avatar blinked in and out of existence a few times. And then it disappeared.
Clara's ears were filled with a hissing, and rancid breath assaulted her nostrils. Fear of the avatar had not caused the demonic worm to flee back into the Retrospective. It slid forwards once more, mouth open and eager to eat the wolf.
"Clara, we are leaving," Van Bam bellowed.
Mentally, she laughed at the idea of backing down from this fight. She showed the worm her teeth.
"Clara!"
"Leave her, Van Bam," Samuel shouted. "We can't control her."
"Clara, listen to me!" Van Bam begged. "Come with us now, or you die here!"
