Guardian Spirit

Chapter 5

Derian sighed as he sat down on his softly cushioned chair. The room was well lit and the decorations, fine carpets and other treasures, were clearly visible, no doubt intentionally to impress any visitors. The large desk in front of Derian was filled with parchments and other papers. Tall stacks of books towered on each side of the table. The floor was filled with various items and it was quite hard to even find a clear route to where Derian sat. There were rare statues from Meledor, piles upon piles of books and scrolls from Mandor and even the skull of an Yeti from the northern mountains.

He had sighed because all the efforts of the past few years to find the Sun Blade had gone to waste. The elves had proven to be of no use and even the swords former master had resisted all attempts to pry the information from his mind.

“I need that sword,” Derian muttered, sounding frustrated. “It's the key to

unlocking our faith.”

It had taken Derian years of research to find out what was needed to once again bring his master to the world. He had had to travel all around Balaria to find the texts he needed. He had killed people, lied, deceived, bribed, done anything and everything to gain the information. He had visited the great library of Mandor and found bits and pieces of ancient texts and vague references. He had followed those faint leads and they had lead him to the elves and, finally, to Ameter Temera, the former master of the Sun Blade.

The sword had come to Ameter's possession during his adventurous youth, but he had proven stubborn and no information could be gotten from him. His wife and daughter proved to be equally useless. He must have given the sword away, but to whom? Derian sighed out of frustration. A knock on the door interrupted his brooding thoughts.

“Come in!” he shouted and the door opened. One of his lackeys entered, looking a bit scared, but excited at the same time. He was dressed in the black cloak the members of the group always wore. The man bowed humbly.

“Yes, what is it?” Derian asked impatiently.

“Master, we believe we have found the Sun Blade.”

Derian took a sharp breath out of surprise, but quickly calmed down, “Are you certain?”

“Our contact is very certain of it. He has been investigating the place for months and he is one of our most trustworthy operatives.”

Derian nodded, “At the very least this should be worth investigating. Where is he working? Who has the sword?”

“That is the biggest obstacle. He is in Ramyn, in the Five Towers of Magic..and it is Skander, the master of the Fifth Tower, who has the sword.”

Derian felt his heart sink. Of all the places and of all the people, it had to be there and with him! He cursed out loud and stood up and started to pace around the room. It took him a while to calm down. Slowly, a wicked smile appeared on his face.

“No matter. This is the perfect opportunity to put our new troops to the test and to show the world that we are back. Skander will regret the day he took hold of that sword!”

OOO

Nala floated through what seemed to be a green haze. Sorrow and anger gripped her heart and she felt the need to struggle against what she was headed for. She knew she was dead and that her body was being absorbed by the elf tree she had died in. Each elf had their home tree into which they would be placed after death. The tree would then absorb the dead body along with its spirit. The oldest of trees would have literally hundreds of spirits in it, all of which could be summoned by the remaining family members to share thoughts with. Though such a summoning was considered only in the greatest of needs as disturbing the spirits was considered a great offence towards them. But Nala found herself not ready for a life of peaceful existence with her relatives. She wanted revenge.