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[Adam]

---

Adam laid on a small cot, in a dank, dark room. Blankets provided him make shift curtains across the room's single large window, a small amount of light filtering through around the edges. Sweat trickled from his forehead. The candles he'd chosen over the sun added an unwelcome heat that for the time was ignored. He closed his eyes, trying ignore the dull echo of the sounds of the street. The setting was flawlessly aggrivating, and it inspired him.

Adam opened his eyes once more, narrowing them upon line after line upon scroll after scroll. He read through an infinite number of texts, some that were thrice as old as he. He spoke to himself now and again when he knew a piece of information to be blatantly useless.

"Shadowlords in tokuno.. Lich lords in umbra..."

His voice was flat, his tone mocking the echos that so endlessly annoyed him.

"Ghosts in Magincia.. Vampires in Britain.."

His eyes closed once more, trying to shake off the aggravation that was growing within him at his own mockery of the criers.

"Who cares, they all deserve it. Do something about it yourself if you don't like it...Or is that just what they told me? Doesn't matter, why argue the point.."

He tossed another scroll aside and pulled the next book from the stack beside his cot, opening it upon his lap. His eyes widened just a bit in what could be considered appreciation. Something had captured his interest.

A news article, hardly news, hardly informative. A series of questions about the great demon invasion of Magincia. An analytical overview of cause and effect. His eyes skimmed quickly as his hand had already started to pull at the corner of the next page, but he stopped.

*The question we must ask ourselves dear readers, more than any other, is not why these demons are here among us. Nor is the question of how it came to be. No, my friends, I propose that nothing happens without a reason. My question is, as our question should be:

Who, or what, controls these demons?*

Adam looked up from the pages, his eyes hazily scanning what anyone might guess to be the cluttered quarters of a cultist.

"Who..does..control the demons?"

He paused.

"I'd like to know."

[Adam]

---

Days had passed, and no longer could Adam stomach the room he'd locked himself away in.

Adam emerged from the rented room into the streets of Trinsic, seemingly thinner than he'd been when he originally entered. Closing the door behind him, he worked his way into the crowds and headed for the docks. Only two weeks ago, it had been his hope that these very docks would be a bounty of information.

Why shouldn't they be? It was not so long ago that hosts of ships and brave soldiers aboard them had sailed to fight the demon invasion of Magincia. Surely some of them would of returned, with writings and journals and news of the front. One half intelligent sorcerer must have gazed upon the shores of the burning city with an understanding to share with the world.

But much to Adam's disappointment, most of his digging only revealed numbers. The number of ships lost at sea and on shore, or the number of lives, or the number of demons. None of this was significant. Even the older texts that focused solely upon demons revealed themselves to be nothing more than paladin-minded drivel.

It was clear he was in the wrong city, and the satchel nor the staff that he carried with him were so great a burden to delay him for even a second more.

******

Adam appeared as most practitioners of the arcane do; a heavy robe, tired eyes, and a mind lost in thought. On the maps before him several locations were circled, and as he waited for the proper boat he debated with himself.

The lycaceum..heavily monitored, open, crowded..but promising

Britain...Old...convoluted..Uncertain..

Zento...newer..not as touched by magic..Likely unhelpful, but home to a library which verywell might be

He shook his head. No one location truly seemed more promising than any other. He suspected that in reality, no one location would give him what he wanted. Bits and pieces would be offered by all. He would have to find them, note them, build them into a bigger picture. And this he would do.

He had the time now.

Looking back to the maps, he lifted a finger upon Trinsic, his intention to let the wind decide his next destination. But still Trinsic held his eye.

In all of his time here, he'd been focusing on the township itself and the people within it. He'd not yet ventured to the rumored tower on the outskirts of the city.. hidden from view within the mountains.

Perhaps Trinsic is not a lost cause after all.. He thought to himself.

A tower in the mountains seems a good place to keep knowledge out of the hands of the righteous.

Adam had his new destination.

[Adam]

---

Following the maps and the rumors to the best of his ability, it did not take Adam so long to find the hidden mage valley. In truth it had existed for a long, long time, and it wasn't so much a secret as it was a novelty. But Adam reminded himself as he made his way through the caves, that at least at some point, it had a very specific purpose. One he hoped preserved the knowledge he sought.

Upon ascending the stairs of the small but impressive tower, no greeting welcomed Adam. Once inside the tower however, an old man dragged a finger across the spines of book after book. He was busy with his task, and so Adam made a point to join him, standing beside him in front of the shelves as Adam's own eyes began to scan as he spoke.

I am Adam Al'beth. I come from True Haven. There is knowledge I seek, perhaps you can help me?

Unsurprisingly, the choice of words got the old wizard's attention,

True Haven, I'll assume you mean Old Haven.

Adam Nodded. As far as I am concerned there is only one. But that is not why I am here.

The old mage glanced back to Adam, their eyes locking so that he might judge the very soul of the younger man before him. Determination burned with intensity in his eyes, the sort reserved for the mad and the inspired. It was hard to tell which one, if not both, but it prompted an urgency where one did not exist before.

What is it you seek then...Adam Al'beth of True Haven?

It was then that one word was spoken clearly, matching Adam's eyes more than any other.

Demons.

Perhaps it was the way that Adam's request was direct and indirect at the same time. Perhaps it was because as purposeful as this younger man seemed to be, it did not at all feel academical. No, if anything, it felt disconcertingly familiar...
His reply was delayed but short.

This way..

*********

The two of them entered the lower level of the tower, the resident mage making his way for a smaller, cloth covered book shelf in the corner of the room. He pulled the cloth away and with it a lifetime of dust, kneeling without concern for it as his old eyes narrowed on a new set of spines. As he searched he spoke aloud.

We don't keep much in the way of formal studies here, you'd be better off visiting Moonglow for that.

He pulled a book forth and set it aside on the floor, reaching for another.

But...over the years we have collected quite a bit from those arcane travelers who do pass through. I remember one in particular, left a spellbook...

He couldn't of remembered the name, but he recognized it instantly when his eyes came across it. He stopped, his slender fingers gently tilting the book down away from the shelf, pulling it forth. The mage stood tall with the book in hand, and made for the nearest table, followed closely by Adam's eyes every step of the way.

Setting it down, his hand wiped away a thick coat of dust upon the cover, revealing the faded title.

The Word of Orcus

Adam stood shoulder to shoulder with the mage now, his eyes burning down upon the title. He didn't speak as the old man slowly opened the book. His eyes widening in to take in the first page, registering the old mage's lack of words as he too stared in confusion.

The book appeared to be blank.

[Adam]

---

The moon was high in the dark sky of the late evening, and as he was growing accustomed to, Adam rested next to a dim candle. The old mage of the tower had agreed to let Adam stay there the night. It was possible the old man might remember something, or that there might be something more to find within the many volumes of the tower.

Adam doubted it, but he was too tired and to focused for doubt, he refused it, he didn't even acknowledge it. He continued to think about the book and its blank pages.

Though he'd never seen this book, nor did he at all know the old man, something in him believed him. At some time this spell book had been full of incantations, notes, instructions to those who would follow the work through time. The old mage had seemed so sure, why would he lie? Why would an empty spell book so obviously old and worn remain here.

Soon enough, Adam's eyes grew heavy, leaning forward further and further in his chair. As his mind struggled to make sense of the evening, his body succumbed to exhaustion, his face coming to rest against the hardwood table. His transition to sleep immediately inevitable.

***********
As Adam's body lay hunched over a table, his mind was now somewhere else. Somewhere much different, a place he'd been before. At first it was hard to tell what was happening, he watched from a distance in confusion as the sounds of the very earth cracking pierced the air. Bursts of flame shot from the ground, smoke and ash clouded all that could be seen, and in disbelief and panic he ran quickly and effortlessly toward the city of certain death.

This was his home, this was Haven.

The closer Adam got to the city, the harder it became to breathe, the more his eyes stung, the greater his skin burned as fire whipped about him in gusts of unnaturally forceful winds.Around him the many people of Haven lay dead, while many others still screamed out as they desperately fled the destruction of the city. All of these things distracted Adam, but none of them would stop him. There were loved ones to find, those that counted on him and needed his help. He had only a few more blocks to go, he would get there no matter what.

***********

As the soot covered guardian of Haven rounded the corner, he froze in his tracks, a sickness rising within him so powerfully that he nearly doubled over. There before him were the ruins of what an hour ago had been his home, collapsed upon itself like food for the great pyre that now rose high into the air.

The screaming started once again as Adam regained his strength and ran as fast as he could toward what he could only hope was not the resting place of his family. This time the screams were harder to understand as they ripped forth from his own throat. He was lost in a sea of flames as he dived into the wreckage, and it was then and only then as his skin became blackened, that he realized what was happening. Something was different now.

Adam was thrown from the fire as if the living entity had spit him out. He crashed hard against the pavement and rolled another two feet still. As he came to and he got to his feat, turning to brave the fire once more, he stopped.

Where before there was the pyre that was his home, now stood a great demon on an alter of embers. It's voice boomed forward with such command that Adam nearly fell once more.

I am the Demon of Demons! Servant of the Lord of Flames! I am Spell Keeper and Master of his will! What foolish human dare look upon the power of Orcus?!

Involuntarily, be it from pain or a magic he didn't understand, Adam fell to his knee as if he were bowing to the great demon. He struggled to breathe as the monster laughed at him, as the fire grew hotter around him, as the smoke turned his skin to an unnatural black. But in this moment of the Demon's pride, in this moment of his human weakness, something else happened to Adam too.

He was filled with hatred.

This wasn't haven, there was never a demon. This was a memory of his tragedy interrupted. This was a mockery of the worst day of his life. He would not be made to suffer this injustice as he had so many others.

With all the rage that his heart could not contain, Adam found the strength to rise. His body tall and straight, his eyes on the demon burning hotter than any fire could. He raised his arm, the Word of Orcus spell book there where it had not been before. The cover flipped open with a gust of wind and the ashes of the air spelled out a name upon the first blank page.

Adoroth, The Spell Keeper

The demon stood menacingly, roaring at Adam, waiting for him to make some sort of pathetic and feeble attack.

But Adam did not attack. Instead he stared upon this demon, and with every ounce of his will, as loudly as he could, he screamed:

ADOROTH! Keeper of Spells!

I Am Adam Al'beth! AND IN THE NAME OF ORCUS, YOUR FLAMES BELONG TO ME!