Arcadis: Prophesy

By George Kramer

Chapter One

My name is Arcadis Ander Gildeon and I am in a heap of trouble. It used to be every once in a while a brazen sorcerer would come into my antique shop and ask for the all powerful sorcerer named Arcadis. When I told them it's me, their first response was always laughter. I don't exactly fit into the all powerful sorcerer category. I am not seven feet eight inches tall, have long blond hair and weigh six hundred gazillion pounds with muscles the size of Jupiter. I am five feet seven inches tall, short black hair that's cropped on the sides. I weigh one seventy soaking wet.

Typically, after their laughter subsided, they would challenge me to a duel to prove their magnanimous sorcery skills. I would give them a weak smile and pretend I was scared. I'd trudge to the back of my antique shop with my head down and shoulders hunched for affect, walk out the door several yards and stand there. There's a track of grass land that leads to a wooded area behind my store. I always stood in the middle of the grass halfway between the store and the woods. Oftentimes they asked where my staff or wand was. I'd tell them I don't have one. Don't need it, I would say. Naturally, they utter what a fool I was and how they will burn me to a crisp or some such nonsense. I'd tire of their rhetoric quickly. Most times I'd asked if they were going to fight or were they going to talk me to death.

They'd walk within six feet of me, which was the standard sorcerer dueling rule. They would pop off a quick enchantment and disperse their colored magic energy through their staff, sword, wand or whatever instrument they used to dispel their power. I'd flick my hand in a minor gesture of annoyance and the spell would fall harmlessly to the ground. More often than not, I stood there and clasped my hands together, waiting for more. That usually irritated them, then they would try a harder spell. The same result occurred. Mind you, each contest was with different sorcerers, but one hundred percent of the time, the situation I outlined to you is what really transpired.

So, why am I in a heap of trouble? Word spreads, that's why. Now everyone and their great, great grandmother wanted to try to best me. I was tired of it. Recently it had become an everyday occurrence.

Today, in this particular duel, I was fed up. The gargantuan beast with the resemblance of a human offered insult after insult. After six futile attempts at trying to best me, the sorcerer panting, relented and offered a hand to let me know it was my turn. And of course, I wanted to teach him a lesson because I had a business to run and didn't have time for the nonsense. Usually I would conjure a little magic, wave my hand and the other sorcerer gets thrown ten or twenty feet. He or she would get up, shake their head and come back for more. But this time, I wanted to provide a little more oomph to my spell because the guy was built like a brick house. He looked like he could lift a small house by himself.

 His trench coat was grey, consequently I knew he was a secondary colored power. He had long grey hair wrapped in a tight ponytail with a matching grey goatee. He wore grey spectacles and his grey eyes were frenzied as though he was on drugs. I willed more into my enchantment and released it directly at the poor mammoth sap in front of me. I saw him being lifted up, propelled into the air and slammed into my enchanted wall I had put in place when I first bought the store. The whole backyard was enchanted so every car or pedestrian that went by saw just a backyard and not two individuals dueling it out with magic. He shook his head, tried to get but fell back down and passed out in my backyard. Feeling somewhat satisfied, I turned and walked back into my store.

Before I could reach the back entrance, my heap of trouble turned into a mountain. The person who walked out of the backdoor and into the yard was Topec Torxer, one of the two Regulators for Indiana which was overseen by the Convocation. The Convocation was an assembly of the myriad of sorcerers based on the color of their magic. The most powerful members put out magic from the primary colors which was red, yellow and blue. All of the other colors that were derived from the color spectrum were called secondary members. Topec and I are leery of each other, despite being in a couple of minor skirmishes together. When he visited you, it usually meant you did something wrong. Before I did the customary bow, I noticed he had put a little weight on. His gold trench coat was snug on his broad shoulders. He was much taller than me, easily six feet four inches, bald and with rich African American heritage that cultivated both respect and awe. He was a legendary ladies man and true to form, had a gorgeous woman beside him. He was bald and athletic with a crisp white shirt and black trousers. His long gold trench coat flee freely about despite a slight breeze. My own long red trench coat stayed in place.

I did the customary bow and he returned the gesture.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Topec?" I asked informally.

Topec looked at the surroundings. He surveyed the back of my store where the lower half of the building was made of brick that were crumbling and need of repair. He looked at the unmoved grass, the woods behind it, a bank with only one drive thru to the left of my shop and a family owned pizza parlor to the right. His deep voice resonated all around me.

"I still do not get why you live in a small town in Indiana. With your power, I thought you would live in New York, Los Angeles or even Chicago. Why Indiana of all places?"

"Topec, we've been over this a hundred times, I am comfortable here." I threw him a gaze. "Until recently, people left me alone."

"A sorcerer so powerful even Lord Quill noticed living in, what was the town called again?"

I rolled my eyes, getting tired of his taunts. "McCordsville. Topec, you did not come from the Convocation or wherever you were to discuss where I dwell. Cut the bullshit and tell me why you're here or leave."

He gave me a hard look. A person of his stature was not used to someone talking back to him. Even the beautiful blond with him squirmed. I didn't care.

With monumental effort, he slowly relaxed.

"It has come to the Convocation attention that there has been a great deal of magical activity around the earth. The most frequent activity has been centered around your abode."

I shrugged my shoulders and pointed to the huge man laying flat on his face. "I noticed it too and it's getting annoying. Do you know what's going on?" 

Topec thought for a moment. "Surla, be a sweetheart and go inside whilst I talk to Arcadis."

The woman pouted her beautiful moist, thick lips for a second, turned and walked back into my shop. We both watched her. Topec turned to me and I noticed his brows creased in frustration.

"I will get to the point, Arcadis. More and more sorcerers, especially Regulators, are being challenged and being defeated around the globe. A great deal are coming here and challenging you for a reason." He walked up to me and we stood face to face. I allowed him to grab my shirt and pull it open. It revealed the pentagram Lord Quill had carved into my chest with his finger when I was just days old. He had been found dead, slumped on the floor beside me. My cries alerted my mother because apparently having something carved on your chest hurt. A lot.

"This engraved pentagram of yours has been an open secret for almost three decades. Up and coming sorcerers are claiming you have an unfair advantage. The carved pentagram makes you much more powerful because it allows you to conjure up spells much more quickly and with much more power. And it allows you not to yield a staff or wand to transfer your power. It emanates freely from you. People are yelling favoritism since Lord Quill picked you. There are fissures within the ranks of the Convocation. And as a Regulator, I cannot allow that."

I felt the rush of anger rise within me. As a result, the pentagram started to glow red.

Topec took a step back and his sword came up from nowhere. "Arcadis, don't do anything stupid!"

I tried to calm down, I really did. "Topec, I don't know why Lord Quill chose me but it's not my fault. I can't help how other sorcerers feel about me. And to tell you the truth, I really don't care what they think."

Topec smirked. His brown eyes grew menacing. "Therein lies the problem. Your attitude doesn't exactly help your cause."

I frowned while I buttoned my shirt. "My attitude? Why do you think I moved to McCordsville, Indiana? So Sorcerers, demons, shape shifters, werewolves, vampires and all the other corporal and non corporal garbage would leave me alone."

Topec shook his bald head. "Arcadis, like it or not, people with your power are  going to be noticed. You could move to the Himalayas, shave your head, become a monk and bad beings would still seek you out."

I folded my arms across my chest. I always did that when I became stubborn. I noticed Topec lowered his sword. "So, what do you want me to do about it? Stop being who I am? Get a tattoo artist and try to have this damn thing removed from my chest?"

Topec gave a smile. Not a warm smile, but it was one nevertheless. "It would be useless to try and have it removed. It was made by the most powerful sorcerer any realm has ever known. You're stuck with it."

"Then my original question still stands. What do you want me to do?"

The woman came back out before Topec could answer my question.

"Topec, it's time. We have to go."

"Arcadis, did I introduce Surla the Chronicler?"

"A Chronicler?" I asked, stunned. "She should have recorded our conversation, Topec!" I eyed Topec suspiciously.

"You know as well as I do Chroniclers are the eyes and ears of the magical world. They remember everything and record in their minds. They can recite anything they heard from birth."

"I have my reasons" was all Topec said.

Since a Chronicler was in my presence, I had to ask her a question I've had since childhood. "Surla, why are the primary magical colors red, yellow and blue? I did research and they are additive and subtractive colors too."

Surla smiled. Then she did something odd. Her eyes started to increase to the point they were protruding from her face.

I looked to Topec in discomfort. "Uh, Topec, what is she doing?"

"She is accessing the data you requested. There's a lot of information contained in her seven pound brain."

After a few seconds her eyes returned to normal and I sensed a short lecture coming. She spoke softly, enunciating every word. "Lord Quill noticed sorcerers displayed three colors when they used their magic. The people who were of pure ancestry had red, yellow and blue magic. Prior to Lord Quill's ruling, primary's could only marry their own colored power. A red must marry a red, blue a blue and a yellow must marry a yellow to maintain purity. After he decreed primary sorcerers must not marry primary sorcerers, Lord Quill noticed the colors from pure sorcerers were different from the "diluted" sorcerers."

I was confused. "Would you care to elaborate, Surla?"

"Sure. Lord Quill wanted the primary's not to marry primary's to purposely dilute the colored powered magical society."

"Why?" I asked  in confusion.

"He wanted to keep a tight rein on who his potential adversaries might be. A couple of generation after the law was enacted, secondary's abounded. For instance, when a yellow colored power married a blue colored power, a green powered baby was born, thus starting the dilution process."

"Makes sense because at the Convocation headquarters, there are a plethora of different colored offices with matching doors" Topec proclaimed.

"Yeah, and when you look at all of the different colors of crayons..."

Both of them looked at me. I hadn't realized I was talking aloud.

After a minute absorbing the information, Topec looked at me and it seemed he came to a decision. "You need to come with us."

I raised an eyebrow while I still had my hands folded over my chest. "Really? And what happens if I tell you to go to hell?"

Surla walked in between us. "Arcadis, the Regulator has spoken. You know the rules."

I looked at her and despite that rule, started to probe her, which broke another rule. Actually a cardinal rule. When I probe people, depending on their skin, it usually turns their face a deep blue. Surla's face started turning blue. Topec immediately realized what I was doing and pushed Surla out of the way.  

He came within inches of my face. "How dare you try to probe a Chronicler! What is wrong with you, Arcadis? Do you know the penalty for such a treasonous act? You could wipe out her memory! Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

A long sword suddenly appeared by Topec's side. How the hell does he do that? With an official challenge, the rule was six feet. For a real fight, the rules went out the window.

I stood my ground, ready for a fight. Everyone I had ever fought would probably pale compared to a Regulator.

Topec whispered an arcane language and the sword started to glow. Not a good sign. I prepared for the assault but stopped short when Surla came between us, again.