The Hedge Wizard

Essence trailed behind Anara as she shot into the sky, leaving behind a sickening pink mist like the noxious fumes of a witch’s brew. Even outside of its range, the strength of it made Hump’s head spin. Such strength could only be from a major blessing.

The squad let their blessings fade as they all stood and watched. Dylan’s sanctuary was dismissed last, the ancient tree he had manifested dissipating back into essence. His tree form remained, towering ten feet tall.

With the mist cleared, there was no longer anything disrupting Hump’s view. The illusion of the lake had faltered, and now a plain of red grass filled the space that had previously been water. The ground was warped and scarred by mounds of cooling lava, solidifying into whirling patterns of smooth, dark rock. The demons that had survived Hump’s spell fled, racing back to whatever hell pit they came from like the cowardly creatures they were. Those that died littered the dark rock as if the ground had swallowed them. Their bodies were charred black to the point of being unrecognisable.

Amidst them, the great beast that was the imp lord’s mount lay dead, its viscera spilled out in a bloody pool across the ground. The monster’s mouth was agape, its many tongues drooping out onto the ground. The imp lord stood atop its back swaying back and forth numbly, lost in a trance. There was a sinister yellow flower on its back that stirred with the motion.

The imp lord was a stark contrast to the grandiose statues that depicted it in the dungeon node and on the plateau. Stripped of its illusions, it appeared diminutive atop its mount, like a child sat on their father’s steed. Though larger than a typical imp, it was only about as tall as Hump was, and its stature hardly imposing. It wore a crown of silver and fine, purple robes, its pale red skin, taut and leathery, poking out from beneath. The cunning was gone from its eyes now, replaced by a glistening glaze of essence. Sharp fangs jutted from its mouth, but Hump saw no fight left in it now.

“What does her mark do?” Emilia asked.

“The flower on the imp lord’s back is the mark,” Isabella said. “For Anara’s seeds to take root, she pits her will against that of her foes. Upon succeeding, the flower blossoms and the target becomes entranced by her. The imp lord has already lost. It is under her charm now.”

Isabella’s comment rang out in Hump’s mind. He hadn’t even seen the moment that Anara had applied the mark. It must have been during the imp lord’s attacks on Len’s barrier. No doubt it was a powerful blessing, but Hump could imagine the dangers of pitting her will directly against the will of a powerful demon. If she had lost, it could have permanently damaged her soul. To have such confidence was not what Hump expected from a druid that specialised in flowers like Anara—it hadn’t crossed his mind that she might be so deadly, or willing to gamble so much.

Anara descended on the imp lord with the grace of a butterfly, the delicate wings on her back fluttering gently as she landed on the back of its mount. She stood before the imp calmly, extending a hand as if to caress a lover’s cheek. A single black rose manifested on the imp lord’s chest, the sight sending a shiver through Hump’s soul. Her power built, thick and heavy in the air. Colour drained from the world around them until both she and the imp were shrouded in black and white.

One by one, a wreath of black roses wove around the imp lord’s neck. Slowly, the black roses began to turn red, the colour creeping up the petals from the stem like trickling blood. The imp lord’s veins throbbed to the surface of its skin, pulsing as if black ink ran through its body. Its eyes went wide. The imp’s already pale complexion turned even whiter, its face becoming gaunt, its hands shrinking until they were like those of a corpse. Hump held his breath, unable to turn away from the eerie display of her blessing, watching with dreadful fascination as the very life was siphoned from the imp lord. As the roses turned entirely crimson, the imp lord fell back, toppling from its mount and thudding gracelessly to the ground below, lifeless.

Anara hopped down from the back of the monster and knelt beside the fallen imp lord, her movements precise and unhurried. She drew a belt knife and carved open its chest, reaching inside to extract its heartstone. The glowing gem pulsed with a deep purple, ripe with power. Such a heartstone would be extremely valuable.

She stood, turning to the rest of them. “Collect what you can in the next ten minutes. After that, we need to move out. There is still much to be done before the day’s end. Wizard Humphrey, have your party keep watch while we work.”

Hump nodded his affirmation. In truth, he needed the rest. He leant heavily against his staff as he surveyed the battlefield. Even with the potion Isabella had given him, he felt exhausted. Cold seeped through him, urging him to lie down somewhere warm and sleep. It would be a while yet before he would find such rest.

Nisha scurried up to one of the dead demons, sniffing at its corpse.

“Don’t eat it!” Hump warned.

She looked at him, and Hump reinforced the command through their bound. Her tail drooped and her eyes glanced to the side as she returned to his side, pressing up against his leg.

“Don’t sulk,” Hump said softly, patting her side. “You’ll get sick eating them. Celaine, can you get some food for her out of your belt.”

Celaine looked over and smiled as she saw Nisha huddled up against him. Suddenly, the little dragon’s tail was wagging. At the sight of red meat, any pretence of unhappiness was gone from her.

While she ate, Hump’s eyes roamed back to the many bodies of the demons. He hadn’t realised quite how many had tried to assault them through the mist. Bloodhorrors, hounds, and fellspawn were piled up beyond where the boundary of Dylan’s sanctuary had been. Even more lay in smouldering heaps upon the red grass, buried in the hardening stone.

Marian hopped through her portals, going from one corpse to the next to harvest the heartstones of the lesser imps, a child-like glee on her face. It was a simple job for her. She held a hand over their chests and the stone was dragged straight to it by some invisible force, then she added it to a spatial storage space of her own. Others worked the old-fashioned way, slicing over the chests of the many demons and extracting the heartstone by hand. Farther up the grassy hill, Owen and Soren examined what Hump assumed was the mist generating artifact.

Inevitably, Hump’s eyes found their way back to the destruction he had wrought. The old man taught him to be responsible with his magic: to understand that while it was a tool, it could also be a deadly weapon. Seeing the carnage caused by his will shook him. There was something profound at realising just how deadly he had become. Dozens, perhaps hundreds had died to his Rivers of Lava, and they had died in agony.

He felt no pity for the demons. More, it reminded him of the time he held a sword after a mercenary had let him have a go with one while he was a kid. He’d been hyper aware of its edge, afraid of even holding it in one hand for fear of cutting himself or someone else. Using Rivers of Lava left him with a similar feeling. With the power flowing through him, the raging intent of the spell had influenced him too, exciting him with the thrill of wielding such power. Such a feeling was dangerous, particularly when a single mistake could result in the deaths of many people.

Emilia started laughing and he glanced back over to see Nisha circling around her and Celaine, the two women talking quietly as they kept watch.

Dylan walked up to Hump, the bark that had formed over him dissipating in a shower of green essence as he returned to his normal form. “You look conflicted. Everything alright?”

“Just tired,” Hump said. “We’ve only been in this place for a few hours and I’m ready to leave.”

“I was ready to leave the moment we stepped inside.” Dylan extended his arm, watching as the essence continued to trickle from it. “This dungeon essence feels like oil on my skin.”

“You’re going to need to get used to it,” Bud said. “If today goes to plan, we won’t be leaving here until everything here is purged and this stain on our world removed.”

“It always sounds so valiant when you put it into words,” Dylan said.

Hump nodded. “Valiant phrasing is one of Bud’s great talents. He’s always been very good at it. Sometimes even I feel like I’m almost a holy warrior.”

“I wouldn’t argue otherwise,” Bud said with a frown. “You’re a better person than you would like people to think, Hump—even yourself. It is not farfetched to say that you’re doing the work of the gods here.”

“Yeah,” Hump grumbled. “Just wish they’d pick up some of the slack. I’d rather they did the work themselves.”

Bud sighed and shook his head. “Don’t let the rest of the squad overhear you talking like that.”

“I hear him!” Tamsin called just as she hacked into the corpse of the imp lord’s mount with one of her axes.

Hump raised an eyebrow—the berserker had to be standing forty paces away.

“Do you hear like a bat?” Dylan asked, his face bewildered.

She let out a ferocious grin as she yanked her axe out of the beast, pulling blood and bone with it. “Something like that.” She struck again, this time opening the chest and revealing the heartstone within.

“Great,” Bud said. “One more person knows you’re blasphemous now. I hope you’re happy.”

“It’s always dangerous to rely too much on hope,” Hump said, putting on his most pompous lecturing voice.

“You like to bring up these Wizard Laws often,” Bud said. “But this is pretty much the only one you ever mention. Are there more?”

Hump nodded, stroking his chin. “Of course there’s more. Never question a wizard.”

Dylan chuckled.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me a minute, I’ve got some reading to do.” He took out his spellbook and the rest of his party gave it a knowing look, though none voiced anything with Tamsin clearly within earshot.

His heart sped up with excitement as he opened the book and examined the new pages.

THE BOOK OF INFINITE PAGES

Compact Formations 3

Description

Spell formations can now directly be cast from this book up to Tier 5.

That was particularly useful. Compact Formations had become his most used function of the spellbook, and with the upgrade from Tier 3 to Tier 5 he’d be able to use many of his most powerful spells through its pages: Molten Stone, White Flame, Lava Coils, Magma Pit to name a few.

On the opposite page, he saw a similar upgrade.

THE BOOK OF INFINITE PAGES

Spell Storage 2

Description

Prepare a spell in advance of its use by storing essence within the spell formation. This can be used for spells up to Tier 6 with a current limit of one Tier 6 spell and one Tier 5 spell.

Notes

y.254 – Nithrand – I always remember the day my master raised his hand to the sky and manifested a flaming stone the size of a city in moments.

Hump wondered what it was exactly that caused his spellbook to reveal more of its contents as he grew stronger. Did it require his power to unlock these pages or was it Glyndaril that decided when Hump was ready? Whatever the case, the ability to store Rivers of Lava within its pages would prove incredibly valuable while they were in the Infernal Halls. There wouldn’t be time to prepare the spell for their attack on the fortress that day, but there would no doubt be many battles to come.

As he turned the page, he opened to the part he truly wanted to see.

THE BOOK OF INFINITE PAGES

The Secret Arts

With this, the second seal I have placed upon my book has been broken. Be warned, there are many that will seek its power—hide it well.

In my time exploring the world, I came upon many fascinating creatures and peoples. Many had found ways to harness magic by accident. To them, magic was not a science, but an art form explored through feeling and instinct. Yet where they failed to comprehend the laws that governed such powers, I have deciphered them, developing them into a system of advanced magic. Do not rush to understand these concepts, for while they can grant great power, they may also harm your soul.

Spell Sculpting

Description

Align a spell with your soul, stripping away the universal components that make it broadly compatible and infusing it with your own magical signature and the essence of your soul. This process grants the spell traits unique to you.

“Well?” Bud asked. “You look happy.”

“Well… it’s really quite…” Hump glanced up at the knight, a wide grin on his face. “This might be the key to… everything.”