Necro

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spire, sending electricity down the metal dagger and into the generators below. However, he did not lift his eyes, nor did he see his workers struggling to deal with the overcharge. In the lab, the only sources of light were the crystals that lined the shelves; chalcedony, morganite, ruby, onyx, each pulsating softly with mana, runes, and a various array of spells trapped beneath their hard exteriors. Yet, all the spells locked within the gemstones had not been cast by his hands. Nevertheless, he did own them through bartering, selling and the ever so common thievery. For most, it was seen as a form of cheating; years of dedication poured into forming a single rune, only to be locked away and sold as an expensive commodity. On the other hand, in his eyes, it was just efficiency. The only cost was a few hundred bags of gold, and with his family fortune behind his back, he had practically nothing to lose.


spherical gate slowly turned on one by one, followed by glowing runes flickering to life on top of the altars nearby. On top of the rune-swarmed pillars, mages stood poised and ready, magic spinning brightly and darting towards the device from their arms. Charging with duel spectral flares, the onyx-encased gateway glowed. Lighting flickered around the edges. Three concentric circular spells blinked into existence then promptly exploded, followed closely by several other waves of archaic circles. A few moments later, a small black sphere fizzled into existence.

from his desk, the man walked over to the device. Then, out of the corner of his eye, a flicker then crossed his vision. The gem on the scholar’s forehead glowed a wispy grey, little lines of mist trailing from its heart.


twenties, wearing a white coat. His notebook was clutched closely to his chest, and in his right hand, his pen jittered erratically. Cute.


gemstone never lied.

certainly not of this caliber. The results could be unstable… possible even fatal.”


is of no use to me.”



turned back to the remaining co-workers.


the commoner and the scholar. The possibilities were practically endless. A farmer could peer into the future and instantly calculate the exact date when his crops will be ready for the harvest. A warrior could see when he was bound to die and pay his final respects to his beloved. A mage, if pushed to the extents of magical prowess, could even utilize this skill to alter fate and change the course of history to solely benefit his or her kin. While the possible results of this branch of spell have been a source of discourse within the highest branches of knowledge, one can only test to see the true outcomes of this ability. And this ability has yet to be discovered.

was nearing its discovery, the scholar hypothesized that if foresight, by some stroke of luck, could be achieved, reaching back into the past would certainly be even more doable.


donned his ebony cloak. The elder mages stood in silence as the scholar grabbed two crystals nearby, crushed the morganite in his fist, and waited for the yellow glows to grow. The binding spell glowed, then slammed into the fabric. Coursing through the silk, magic climbed up the wires and surged into the edges. Faint runes slowly appeared. The scholar put on the hood, then walked back to the wispy black orb. He stopped approximately a foot away from the sphere.


reappeared in the scholar’s eyes. The yellow glow refracted off the gem’s gleaming red surface, casting a golden light throughout the chamber.


the ruby. Moments later, the gemstone violently vibrated and exploded with a shrill scream. The second spell latched onto the scholar, punching into his chest in curls of crimson. The man stumbled back from the impact, then, as he regained posture, new red runes swirled around his cloak.


and, as quickly as the orb had appeared, the orb dissipated into thin air, taking the man with it.


wings. It wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t too hot. It smelled like the beach, but there was only an endless horizon of black before his very eyes. The sky was an eternal night, a pitch black void decorated with the light of thousands of miniscule suns.




Observatory. A rune folded into the fabric, and as yellow wisps exited the scholar’s lips, the sands quickly shifted. Pillars of sand violently lurched up into the air, while others formed spiked mounds. Some launched themselves into the air to form flying entities that traversed the night sky. Their surfaces solidified, and colors spread across the void. The pillars became columns of stone and the mounds became tufts of grass. The entities became dragons, gracefully soaring over the beautiful world around them. Amongst the beauty, hatchlings frolicked in the fields. However, the scholar’s gaze focused on the small pink-eyed skydancer who was isolated by his siblings, watching the raw arcane magic flutter across the wildlands. The scholar smiled and walked closer. He stretched out his arm to touch the child, but his form only plunged into the hatchling, revealing its black interior. Fascinating. The hatching continued on its way as if nothing happened, and when the scholar pulled away, the sands instantaneously shifted back to fill the hole. The scholar then went to explore the world before him, taking note of everything he saw. Through rough estimations and acute observations, the scholar realized that he could only fly approximately 1 kilometer from the hatchling. This can certainly be improved.


Another rune snuffed out as he did. He recalled a large room with thousands of scrolls, lining the walls like stone with the smell of old parchment. The skydancer, now older with darker plumage, sneaked into the room. He peered at the library before him, and, without much consideration, plucked out a scroll and began to read. The scholar beamed with pride. He then clutched his cloak and another yellow rune vanished. Time stopped, the skydancer frozen in time. The scholar hovered down below and peered over the skydancer’s shoulder. The words were still crisp, and not less readable. Now this, this was a breakthrough. He could now reread the old texts he read before as long as he wanted. All the skydancer had to do was pick up a scroll, and regardless of how long the skydancer spent on it, the scholar could read it for as long as he wanted. The scholar knew what this meant, and it was groundbreaking.


long as he had 5 runes left, he would be able to return. The scholar closed his eyes as 2 runes lept from the fabric and launched themselves into the air. They swirled around his arms. One stayed, while the other slammed itself into the ground. Then, the world quickly changed around him. In the span of a few seconds, 4 scenes quickly flashed before him. One was a scene of stone, rubble falling from the heavens. A wall shattered, and the ceiling collapsed. The second was a scene of light, seemingly raining down from above. A dragon flew above as the bright cascade transformed into a massive spell. The third was a scene of lighting. A creature launched forward, slamming into a larger drake. The hall exploded, and the world was engulfed in electricity. Finally, a frozen wasteland, barren of structure or beauty. 2 dragons flew towards the scholar, then the sands dissolved.


improve some parts of the device, but if what was seen became true, this certainly was a large step into the future of magic.


the air, then plummeted into his body. Then, a glowing form ripped out and materialized. The scholar stared back at an incorporeal version of himself, a dark, brooding, arcane skydancer.


as it crashed into the endless sea of stars above. As it did so, the scholar’s consciousness lept into the ghostly creature. The stars grew dimmer, and the entity drowned in the black.

wrong. So horribly wrong. The machine’s structure lay in rubble. The dark orb had transformed into a violent jittering vortex. The magicians were gone, nowhere to be found. He heard shouting from afar and recognized the cries of his assistants. Frantically flying to keep up, he found them huddled at the end of a collapsed corridor. Their eyes were large, quivering with fear. Tears brimmed on the edge of their eyes. They were afraid, oh so very afraid. His ghostly presence didn’t help either. One assistant screamed as they locked eyes. Suddenly, there was a blast. The scholar turned around just as a million spells hurtled towards them like a multicolored wave.

upon their once-sturdy grey. Stone, rubble falling from the heavens. A wall shattered, and the ceiling collapsed.


he was alone. The scholar punched the ground and screamed into the darkness.


One rune, nothing but a glimmer of false hope. He had to return, but it wasn’t enough.


The scholar picked up the rat, and as he did so, his grief-stricken mind began to stir. He had to try.

of his remaining strength, forced the raw magic out of the rodent. The rune disappeared, but above the rodent, a glowing, white mass blinked into existence. He touched the energy with his cloak, and, in a stroke of luck, the white rune filled the spot where the yellow rune once lay. However, that wasn’t only it. Next to it, a second faint white rune lay next to its brother. It certainly wasn’t complete, but it still was something.