The Tale Of The Twin Mages
The Tale Of The Twin Mages
Author: ALPHA-PEN ORIGINALS
CHAPTER 1

★ E A R T H    R E A L M ★

★ N U M C R É S ★

"Bring me his head!" shouted the grim voice of a grey-haired old man in a silver robe through the dense crowd at the entrance to the tavern. He was not exaggerating; he meant every word he spoke.

Even as he screamed at the top of his lungs, he attracted no attention. A hand raised in the air and a back and forth motion signaled his troop of mages.

Men in black robes began to crowd into the tavern - through the wide-open door that revealed a view of the crescent moon disappearing into the thick grey clouds in the sky.

Moran was somewhere between the inner and outer chambers of the tavern when he heard Goja command his magicians to bring his head. His heart beat faster, he knew they were slow at their movements, and it would take them time to find a way into the second chamber he was heading towards, hoping to find an escape route.

He knew that he had committed a great offence. For someone who had dedicated his life to stealing masterpieces, jewels, and precious stones, he knew that some missions could end this way. He had never been caught in the act, and although the feeling was strange, he knew he just had to overcome it and run for his life. His skills as a thief and his instincts had led him to the wrong place this time. What he had stolen this time belonged to the Dark Lord, and his troops would not spare him if he were caught.

His hand caressed the shining diamond crystal that rested in his side pocket. The diamond crystal was no ordinary crystal, as he had known, and that was the reason he had fetched it. He heard the dark lord's army talking about the crystal's powers. He heard them call it "the crier," and the name alone made him curious.

He learned that it was called the "Crier" because it could summon someone special, that one person the dark lord had been trying to reach, and that was the sole purpose of the gem and the reason it was made.

He had no idea who the person was that the gem was supposed to summon, and he did not care. All he cared about was how much he could make by selling the gem. . .

Moran had no idea that the gem could shine. But he realized that the moment he entered the Tarven, it began to emit a bright white light. The amazing white light was activated the moment he entered, and the shock and curiosity that overcame Moran caused him to become lethargic in his attempt to escape the Dark Lord's troop of mages who were after him to retrieve the gem and kill him.

Quickly he turned and peered through his hood to catch a glimpse of those who pursued him. He held the brown cloak that rested over his shoulders very tightly to hide the glowing crystal. But his eyes widened the moment they came into contact with one of Goja's most loyal mage, Alos.

Moran knew that Alos would put him in the grave if he wasted another second staring at him instead of finding a way to escape his sight. He wanted to escape, he wanted to move, but he could not move an inch. He did not need to know what was going on, he knew Alos' abilities, he had studied Goja's army well enough to know they were playing with black magic. A grin from Alos confirmed his suspicions.

Goja was the chief knight of the dark lord, and Alos was a mage whom he had specially trained in the art of dark magic, and all worked in the service of the dark lord. .

Panting, Moran tirelessly strained his calf muscles to free himself before Alos made his way through the first chamber.

Alos in his fluttering robe was grim. His pronounced jawline and cheekbones added much to his appearance in a way that even when he was in a good mood, no one could tell, coupled with the thin scar that ran diagonally across his nasal bone from the tip of his right eyebrow down to his left cheek.

"No, it can't end like this," Moran muttered impassively to himself as he counted Alos' steps toward him. Alos let his hands - his right palm against his left - slowly slide over each other and circle as he continued to walk toward Moran with his feet relaxed.

He knew he had all the time in the world, Moran could not move an inch because he had tied him to the ground with his magic.

Moran looked down at his boot and saw drops of blood pattering on it. He did not need to be told it was coming from his nose. He could feel it, every bit of it. He began to gag as he felt his organs being crushed. It was all about the movement of the hands Alos was busy with. The harder he rubbed his hands together, the more Moran felt that his organs were being damaged.

A dangerous Horös spell. A few more minutes and Moran would be a corpse. This wasn't a quick way to die. That's what Horös magic was for, it was used only for that purpose, to harm, to slowly destroy and kill, so that the bodies of the victims were as desiccated as a stick.

The crowd did not know what was going on. And for a place like the Den, it was no shock to see a man killed in one place. But this was different, no one could see what was going on. People passed Moran several times, but they just passed him as if he was a ghost, the same for Alos, no one could perceive him either.

Alos had closed half the distance between Moran and himself while walking like a snail. He stopped the sliding of his palms, but Moran could not stop the urge to vomit. His white wool shirt was covered with clotted blood in the chest area. A pang of remorse came over him, and he wondered if the money he could get from selling the crier was worth dying dying for.

At the far end of the tavern's interior, a young woman sat alone on a stool in front of the counter, waiting for the bartender to mix her a drink.

She had been sitting there since sunset, ready to take on anyone. She was there every day to place bets and watch people bet and watch them lose. That night was no different. Of the 10 sim that was the only money in her pocket at sunrise, she had already won 120 sim.

This was what she did for a living. Her foster parents had died and left her no money or other possessions except the old house where she lived. She had to struggle every day to provide for herself with her extraordinary talents. She was so popular because of her high and extraordinary ability to tolerate alcohol to some degree.

The bartender let her eyes wander to her and sighed. . .

"Tanara, are not you done draining these men yet?" The woman asked and they both laughed.

"It's a fair game, Qora, I never asked them to doubt me," Tanara said to Qora, who was already almost done shuffling.

"You're right! You've honestly earned it. The amazing thing is that they keep coming back just to lose their money, even though they already know that you're endowed with an extreme tolerance for vime," Qora said and they both chuckled.

Tanara stopped laughing the moment she felt a strange sensation. Suddenly she felt cold, and she felt that something was calling for her attention. . .

"Shh!" she called to Qora, who was mixing her a drink. The woman's lips pursed, drawing back the words she was about to say. She wondered how what she was about to say would make a difference in the extremely noisy room. She just wanted to ask Tanara about her payments.

The bartender watched as Tanara, standing on the other side of the counter, gently closed her eyes. She wondered what had suddenly changed Tanara's mood. They had both been talking and laughing, and she wondered what had gone wrong.

"Ar-are you ... all right?" Qora asked her in amazement.

Tanara's brows slowly drew together as she turned her attention back to Qora. She heard something, a voice that drew all her attention.

"Do you hear that?" she said to Qora.

"Yes, it's beautiful music, Ecca has seen to it that so many capable musicians have come in the last two weeks, and-" Qora said, and the red-haired woman in front of her gently set her pitcher on the countertop. Tanara did not talk about the music, she was drawn to a voice, a voice that kept calling to her.

"No! Not the music," she replied, interrupting Qora.

"Then ... the noise of the drunks?" asked Qora again, giving the red-haired woman a stern look.

"No! The voice calling for help," Tanara said, and Qora burst out laughing.

Qora burst into peals of laughter after letting her gaze wander over the merry crowd of drunken men and women. No one seemed to her to be in need of help. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves, so she wondered whose cry for help Tanara claimed to hear.

"I'd have said you were drunk if I didn't know you too well to know that you never get drunk," she said to Tanara after she'd finished laughing.

"Qora, tell me you don't hear him crying?" said Tanara, and Qora's eyebrows drew together uncertainly.

Qora knew the young woman too well, as she said. Tanara was never drunk or acting under the influence of alcohol. She could drink 10 shots of Vime, the strongest alcohol in all of Numcrés, and still remain sober. 3 shots of Vime could put any normal person to sleep, and even the strongest drunk in town could only handle a maximum of 5 shots. Many found this strange, but others saw it as a gift, and she made money from it - her main source of income. She bet ten sim and bet with anyone who doubted her or wanted to challenge her, and she went home with a hundred or more.

"I still hear him," she said to Qora, and then Qora sighed, wondering if the young woman before her had finally lost her tolerance for alcohol.

Tanara hopped off the stool and stood firmly on her feet. She turned her back to Qora and let her gaze wander through the crowd of drunks.

"It's him," she whispered to Qora, drawing her undivided attention and pointing her finger toward the entrance of the second chamber, where Moran was still trapped in a field without movement.

"Poor girl, I guess those shots you have been taking all these years have finally had an effect on you," Qora said, and Tanara rolled her eyes when she saw that Qora obviously thought she was drunk.

Qora stared at the entrance, trying as best she could to understand what Tanara was talking about, but she could not see anything. She saw only the open entrance, and through it she could see only the people in the first chamber.

Tanara reached for her cup of alcohol and held it to her chest with her right hand as she strolled toward the entrance, where she could clearly see a tall, well-built young man choking blood all over his white wool shirt.

She wanted to run to him and help, but she was in shock. She had no idea what was going on. She felt colder the closer she got to him, and that gave her a bad feeling.

She could still hear him calling for help and wondered why he was standing there like a pillar even though he was gradually dying.

She averted her gaze to the crowd and saw a scarred man in a black robe approaching. Her eyes met Alos, who was pulling an axe from his cloak. She gulped the moment she heard Alos mutter a word. She knew that Alos was the one Moran was trying to escape from. Even though she was nowhere near Alos, she heard every single word that came out of his mouth.

"Ahna ta!" She heard Alos say. She did not know the meaning, but her eyes lit up with fear. It was a series of strange words to her.

She looked at everyone around her and they all seemed to notice nothing, they were all just enjoying their time drinking. She saw no difference between them all and Qora. None of them seemed to notice what was going on except her.

Tanara knew she had to act quickly. She ran toward the young man, who seemed frozen with fright. And she put a hand on his right shoulder.

At that moment, Moran felt an electric impulse go through his entire body. It happened so fast that he could not hold on to the feeling to tell about it later, he was amazed. The coldness had also disappeared. Tanara felt her normal body temperature instantly rise again.

"Who're you?" That was the only word that flowed from Moran's mouth.

"You can see me, what did you just do?" he added in shock.

"What're you talking about? Let's go, he's nearby!" she shouted anxiously, pointing at Alos.

"You can see him too?" said Moran, and her brows drew together. She wondered if he really needed help or if it was all a joke. She thought it was a joke, because he'd rather stand there and ask stupid questions - as she thought - than try to escape. She did not know what the strange thing was, she thought it was normal to see him and those who were after him.

"I can't, I'm stuck," he said.

Alos paused for a moment when he saw the red-haired woman touching Moran.

"How can that be?" muttered Alos, aghast, and Tanara heard it again.

He clenched his teeth and clenched his jaw. He clutched the axe in his right hand tighter and tensed his muscles, expecting to throw the axe and cut Moran's neck before he moved an inch.

Alos threw his axe, and Moran and the girl's mouths dropped open.

Tanara grabbed Moran by the collar and tried to pull him to the ground, but it was too late. The axe quickly narrowed the distance, but it left Alos, Moran and the girl in complete silence. What happened made all three of them silent for a moment as they saw the axe go through Moran's chest like a blade through the air. It did not hurt any tissue in him, did not spill any blood, it just went through him and landed on the ground.

Alos was frozen with shock. Moran looked down at his own chest and saw no injury, he was unharmed.

The young woman fell to her knees and touched the axe with her fingertips. She felt the coldness of the steel and wondered how it passed through Moran as if he were air or a ghost.

Moran was curious, so he also got down on his knees and touched the blade of the axe, pressed his fingers against it and found that his fingertips were bleeding from the cut. He looked into Tanara's eyes and let his eyes circle around her pupils.

"What are you?" whispered Maron to her, and she drew her brows together in amazement. She was not sure what was happening around her, she also wondered if there was any chance that what Qora was saying was true, she wondered if she was really drunk for the first time in her life.

How come no one could see what she saw? How come Alos could hurt Moran until she touched him? How come the axe went through Moran like he was a ghost, and he was cut the moment he touched it for the second time after she touched it?

Tanara’s touch seemed to be able to move and transport things between worlds.

They both looked up, averted their gazes from each other's pupils, and fixed them on Alos. They both saw Alos' men begin to gather behind him.

Alos ordered them to charge forward, and they followed his command without protest.

Moran's mouth remained open. Tanara grabbed Moran's hand out of reflex and fled with him from the entrance back to the inner chamber.

Moran was surprised, he did not know how he was released from this bondage. He was stuck, but he did not know how she had managed to pull him along. They made their way through the crowd, she quickly led him to Qora's corner, dropped the jug on the countertop and threw in a sim as payment for her drink.

"Ooooooo! You should have told me you were looking for a handsome young man," Qora said with a wink.

"Shut up, Qora," Tanara muttered.

It struck Tanara that Qora said she couldn't see him at first when she pointed at him at the entrance, and she drew her brows together.

She just thought it best to ask . . .

"Wait, can you see him?" said Tanara to Qora, and she nodded.

"Of course, who wouldn't see such a handsome young man?" replied Qora and Tanara raised her brows. She knew something was wrong. Qora clearly failed to see him earlier, but she could seem him at this moment.

"We need to use the back door, please," she said and Qora sighed.

"I told you before that Ecca forbids me to allow anyone to use the back door," Qora said.

Moran could not stop looking at the entrance, he knew they would show up soon. He was right, Alos' men were starting to fit in.

"They are here!" whispered Moran in Tanara's ear. She had somehow gotten herself into this mess, and she could not just rest and let him save himself. She knew if they got their hands on her, they'd hurt her, too, because she was getting close to the young man they were trying to kill.

"Please Qora," she whispered.

"You owe me," Qora replied, lifting the counter to give them access. She had no idea why Tanara and the young man were in such a hurry as she could not see Alos and his mages.

She grabbed Moran's hand and pulled him into the dark hallway, where they began to walk quickly.

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