Post by TGC on Sept 4, 2021 23:46:16 GMT -5
A cool chill fell on upon Haverstone Cemetery as Daniel Erdagovern stood before his father, Andrew's, grave on a chilly afternoon in late summer.
His father's final words still haunted him...
"It's your job now..."
What job? What did he mean?
Now alone with the ghosts of the fallen, Daniel stood in front of the grave wondering his destiny waiting left behind by his father's last breath...
He wouldn't wait long though, as destiny was rather impatient for a pure soul such as his...
A man in the shiniest of silvers seemed to approach the grieving boy from out of thin air...
"Daniel Erdagovern?"
"Yes?"
"I would like you to come with me..." "What for?"
"It's... complicated... For now, all you need to know is due to your father's passing, you are now the next in line to inherit the title of 'Man in Blue'. Welcome to the Colormen son."
*****
Game IV: 4WSR
"The what? Who? My dad just worked at Klofroloc Industries." Man In Blue replied. "Klofroloc industries is a front. Susan Klofroloc is a pseudonym for "Woman In Blue".
"Hang on, don't I know you? You were at that barbecue."
The silver man stuttered. "Uh... ah hem, I'm afraid that is not important right now" he said as he straightened the tie of his mostly silver colored suit. What is important is that I need you to report to this location tomorrow, after you finish work" he said as he gave Daniel a piece of paper with an address.
"O...k..." Daniel said with confusion. Obviously a lot was going on in his life at this particular moment, so he couldn't process a lot of what was handed to him.
"All will become clear in due time... I suggest you go home for now and clear your head; come tomorrow, I think you will find that a lot of what you know doesn't tell the full story" he said before turning away.
Daniel stood in solemn silence over his father's grave for a little while longer before finally leaving the cemetery and walking home.
*****
Daniel entered the foyer of his apartment building, where his landlord was busy sweeping the foyer. "Ah, good evening Daniel. You're back rather late" he said as he struck the broom across the floor.
"It was a rather slow walk today if you do not mind me saying... it's... it's going to be hard not having Dad around anymore" Daniel said with a sigh.
"I won't pry you for information if you don't feel like it; but know this- it feels hard now, but the best thing you can do is pick yourself up and move on... it is what your father would want, after all"
"Thank you" Daniel said as he went to go to the elevator. It was a big day tomorrow... it was the beginning of the fall semester at the Community College, and Daniel worked there as a professor of history. His specialty: The History of Magic. "I never could quite explain it, but I always was fascinated by the stuff. Stories and legends that pop up all throughout history, who knew that magic played a part of it" he thought to himself. In this world, it was known that magic existed centuries ago, before suddenly and drastically... well, dying out.
As he stepped into his apartment, he thought about how he'd be able to function with that weight of his father's death on his mind. He decided that Arnold was right... he needed to be strong and pick himself up... it was what his father would have wanted.
A nice long shower was all Daniel did before going to bed and dozing off.
*****
Next day he took a bus to the college, and went to go prepare for his lesson. He was about to enter a professor's only area...
"Hey! Students go that way" someone pointed out.
"I'm 30 years old and a professor..." Daniel grumbled as he pulled out his ID.
"Oh... Professor Erdagovern, sir. Well, grow a beard or something, will you?" he said before letting Daniel go.
"Every damn time..." Daniel muttered and sighed as he walked by a mirror... that accursed baby face made him look no older than half the students here.
*****
He finally got to the classroom and set up the lesson for the day. He looked over the student roster, then, once all the students were it and the clock struck 10:00, the lesson began.
"Magic... it's as old as time itself, like matter and energy, and yet for most of our history nobody knew what it was or if there was a use for it. Who here can tell me when that all changed?" Daniel asked as he looked over the students; then one raised his hand.
"Ancient Greece; 400s BC. As the stories go four men figured out how to harness it" the student replied.
"Correct. That was the beginning of magic history. Now, admittedly there is little known about these four; however the story we do know, is quite a popular tale. As the legend goes, One figured out "how to manipulate, conjure and control fire; using it both as a weapon and a means of survival." Another determined "how to manipulate the winds, and take to the skies with the birds." Yet another discovered "how to control the rock, sand and dirt and use it to his bidding." And the last learned "how to control the waters of the rivers and oceans; manipulating them to his will" Daniel explained as he began writing some information on the board. "Who here can tell me who these four were?" Daniel asked as another raised his hand.
"Well sir; their true names were lost to history, but their chosen names, Pyros, Aeros, Aquos and Terros, are legendary" he explained.
"Correct. These four are collectively known as the Fathers of Magic; with disciplines based on the classical ideas of the four elements- Earth, Air, Water and Fire" Daniel explained.
"Well, what about honey?" one asked.
"Honey?" Daniel asked, confused.
"Yea; isn't there an old tale about a forgotten fifth element?" the student asked.
Daniel was silent for a moment before finally saying, "Yes there are stories, but given the time period we're talking about I think we can all agree that this idea of "honey magic" is rather ridiculous and probably a mistranslation" Daniel said, prompting soft laughter from the other students in the class.
The lesson went on for 90 minutes before finally concluding. "And remember; tomorrow we pick up with the progenitors of the next elements" he said as he began cleaning the board.
"Sir, one question... is magic, well, real? Most times we talk about it as if it were legend or tall tales, yet... yet you treat it so seriously" he asked.
"A good question. See, based on my research I have reason to believe that there is almost certainly a grain of truth to the stories we know... but literally happened? Well, that's anyone's guess" Daniel said with a laugh.
"Guess we'll never know" the student shrugged as he left.
Daniel found a sort of comfort in studying history... admittedly he wasn't the strongest willed person in the world, or the brightest, or the most charismatic, and he didn't consider himself a strong leader. But he did have one thing going for him... a strong desire for knowledge, and to learn all he could. Admittedly, The History of Magic course was considered more mythological history than anything else... but still, he could not help but be enthralled by the stories of the past and sharing them with others. Even if his course only had four students this semester.
"They seem like good guys; I think I'll get along with them just fine. Frank, David, Sean and... Tiberius?" He said, double checking to see if he read that name right.
"That's what it says alright," he muttered. "Weird thing to name a kid..." But hey, who was he to judge?
As he looked around his humble classroom - bigger than a storage closet, but not by much - he felt a sense of pride well up inside him. He'd gotten this far only through sheer force of determination, and was quite proud of all he had achieved. He remembered the day he first heard his father tell him how proud he was of his son... if only those days would return...
Ah well, no need to dwell in the past. Daniel still had a bright future ahead of him. Picking up a pencil, he began planning the next class session.
But his mind began to wonder. He kept thinking of what that one student had asked... "Is magic real?"
Well... was it? He pondered this question for some time.
As Daniel made his way towards the teachers lounge, he noticed a strange man in a hideous brick-colored suit approaching him. Daniel felt like the man was staring at him, but he wasn't sure why, so he turned a corner towards a central staircase.
As he walked, he passed two more men in red suits. One was the color of a fresh rose, while the other was more... crimson? That's the word.
Daniel made his way to a courtyard. A man wearing scarlet sat on a bench. Daniel rapidly hurried in a different direction.
Finally reaching the lounge, Daniel made his way to the kitchenette. Alfred Dremin, a technician and acquaintance of Daniel's, was looking through the refrigerator.
"Daniel! How's it going?" Dremin said.
"History of magic was pretty good, but the walk here was weird."
"Weird how?" Dremin looked intrigued as he drank from a Strawberry Fanta. "There were these four men in red suits. Not the same shade of red, just... red. It was like a full tux too. I don't get it."
"How... peculiar." Alfred Dremin said, closing the fridge to reveal a silver knife in his hand, which stood in stark contrast with his red suit.
"I... um..." "Cardinal! Ruby!"
Two burly men in red suits appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Daniel by the shoulders.
"Wait, Al, what's going on?" Daniel said, panic in his voice.
"Tell your father that the Man In Red says hi." Alfred said, preparing to throw the knife. "Wait... but..."
Suddenly, there was the sound of breaking glass as a gold-colored streak burst through the window, knocking Dremin against the fridge. A woman with short, mussed orange hair and a golden catsuit stood and glared at the two men holding Daniel.
"Let him go," she said
"Never," the one called "Ruby" replied, tightening his grip.
The woman charged and rammed Ruby with her shoulder, sending him reeling and causing him to loose his grip. Daniel pulled himself free of "Cardinal" and ran towards the door, only for it to open and the four men in red he'd seen earlier to file in.
"Daniel!" The golden woman yelled. "Close your eyes!" "How do you know my name?"
"Just do it!"
Daniel squeezed his eyes shut, confused and terrified.
Nothing happened for several seconds. Then, just as Daniel was about to open his eyes, the woman screamed something that sounded like "Blinden Vrön" and a searing light shone through his closed eyelids.
Suddenly, a firm hand grabbed his arm and he found himself being pulled. He opened his eyes and saw the golden woman leading him towards the door as the red-suited men staggered.
"What... who?"
"Introductions later. We need to get you to safety."
"Wait." Daniel frowned. "The teachers lounge is on the fourth floor. How'd you even get in through the window?"
"That's your first question?"
*****
Back in the teachers lounge, Man In Red got to his feet.
"Really, you imbeciles? All six of you were hit by it? Even when she shouted a warning?"
"Sorry, boss..." Man In Crimson said.
"I'm not the one you need to apologize to. Now let's see if we can find them before they leave campus."
"Uh, boss..." "What is it, Man In Brick?"
"We still can't see..."
"GRAAAAAAAAAH!"
Meanwhile, Daniel and the golden woman were on their feet, running faster than the wind, when Daniel noticed an empty classroom.
"In there!"
Soon they were safely inside with the door shut.
"Now that we're stuck and you can't move, how about you explain some stuff?" Daniel asked.
The woman hopped on a table and began to explain.
"I'm... Jane... Aurate... Better known as the Woman in Gold, an associate of ours met with you yesterday and invited you to a meeting. I was put on surveillance duty to make sure no harm came to you before the allotted time. Though it seems our background check on your establishment of work was not as thorough as we thought." replied the woman
"So, wait... Are you with those 'Colormen' I heard about from yesterday? I didn't expect there to be women members with a name like that..." questioned Daniel
"It's a rather old organization, besides we usually go by Colorfolk since there are men and women factions. Though the use of men as a general term for the group stems from our use of the old use of the term man, where werman was used to denote males and woman was used to denote females... But right now that's not important, we have to get you out of here or who knows what those Reds might do to you." answered the Woman
“Man, this is a lot to take in” Daniel said in exasperation. Though he had heard stories about them in his younger days, he always considered the Colormen to be... well, stories. But if this woman was here did that mean...?
“No, magic can’t be real, can it?” He began thinking to himself. “But still, it would explain a lot”
“Wait, none of this makes any sense. Even if I assume magic is real it doesn’t exist anymore, it disappeared after the late 1600s!” Daniel pointed out.
“It’s... a bit more complicated than that” Jane informed him. Then she explained “we’re going to make a run for it now” she stated.
“What?”
“Now!” And they bolted for the exit.
*****
Five minutes later they were heading for the exit to the college grounds. They almost
made it, when...
“This is as far as you go!” The voice shouted. The men in Red, Crimson, Scarlet, Brick, Cardinal, Ruby and Rose stood in a line, as if they were about to attack.
“Get begins me” woman in Gold said.
Daniel, horrified, found himself thinking about a time from his youth, of all things.
*****
“Son, there are many things in this world that aren’t clear to the naked eye. There’s a lot I can’t tell you, but know this: someday you’re going to gain something extraordinary. In fact, some of it is already in you.” Andrew explained.
“It is?” The young Daniel asked.
“Yes. Now listen carefully Daniel. One day, you will find yourself in a situation where you cannot fight back. When that happens, here’s what you do. Stand firm, point at the enemy, and say this...”
*****
“Dad, I hope you’re right” Daniel muttered as he pointed at the seven men.
“What are you going to do? Shoot lightning at us? You probably can’t even conjure a water drop” Alfred taunted. As the others laughed.
“Listen here, Alfred. I don’t know what’s going on, or what the hell it is you want with me... but my Dad said that this... uh, THIS will deal with you!” Daniel said, hesitating at first.
“Should we...?” The crimson one began.
“Nah, let him. What’s the worse that could happen?” Alfred shrugged it off. “Glew bahk terdroi vilken shirak...” Daniel began
“Wait a minute, that’s...” Alfred said.
“Tolb nork jirac cilka zeen...”
Then Alfred looked terrified, “no! Not that one! Anything but that one!” He screamed in terror
“...Hirka gilvin!” Daniel finishes.
The seven tried to charge him but it was too late. To Daniel’s shock, large metallic cylinders formed around the seven’s legs. Then, he felt the ground rumble, as flames shot from the feet area and the seven took to the skies!
Daniel looked on with a weird mix of shock, awe, confusion and fear as the seven went higher and higher into the sky, until they became little more than mere specks and disappeared among the clouds.
Daniel let his arm down, still shocked by what just happened. “I don’t believe it. Was that... magic!?” He thought.
The Woman in Gold looked on with a grin. “Seems Daniel’s got some affinity after all” she thought.
“Did... did I do that?” Daniel asked, still just barely processing what was happening. “Sure did” the woman nodded.
“Oh. Did I win?” Daniel asked innocently.
"You drove them off, but they'll be back. We have to get to the Klofroloc compound promptly."
Daniel looked confused. "That ugly bunch of warehouses in the bad part of town? That's where the wizards live in modern times?"
"It's easier to find than an abandoned tower in the forest, and it has wi-fi." Woman In Gold replied.
"Fair enough. Wait... are we just supposed to walk there?"
Woman In Gold fidgeted. "Er... can we use your car?"
"Um, I guess..."
Daniel owned an orange smart car. Woman In Gold was not impressed.
"This thing has zero crumple zones. If we get into a car chase, we will die. It's barely
street legal!"
"Aww, don't be mean to Hilda!" Daniel pouted. "She does her best!"
"You named your car Hilda?"
Daniel blushed. "Hildegard S. Carrington IV, if you must know."
Woman In Gold snorted. "Let's just hope you can drive us safely."
“Hey I’m not THAT clueless” Daniel muttered.
The two got in the car and drove off. It was lucky that Daniel was done for the day
anyway, so no one suspected anything.
“So, what do you know about magic anyway?” Jane asked.
“I know that it doesn’t exist. Or rather... it shouldn’t anymore. It was something Dad told me; the most important tool to a magic user is knowledge. The ability to harness it, cast it, understand it, etc. But every few centuries or so major events happened that resulted in the destruction of irreplaceable knowledge. The fall of Rome, destruction of the library of Alexandria, the Black Death, the Spanish flu... you name it, it affected magic. Dad said in a story... if you want to truly destroy a faction, there’s two things you need to do: kill all its members and...”
“Burn the library” Jane finished.
“Yes, that’s right. So where are we going anyway, the last magic library on Earth?” Daniel asked.
"No, somewhere even better…"
*****
"He got away?!" shouted a voice through a gem-like object in Man in Red's hands
"Sir, it wasn't our fault, she got the jump on us with that spell and..." was all Dremin could excuse before the voice on the other end continued to yell
"I knew you idiots couldn't handle this job! I should have sent the Yellows and Man in
Green instead... Anyway, at least this confirms they've already scouted him AND that the bloodline still exists... Return to base, we need to reorganize our strategy after this blunder..."
"As you command... Man in Black Sir..."
“Just understand... that may take a while!” Man in Red shouted as the seven found themselves flying somewhere over a giant swath of the Atlantic Ocean.
*****
In a dimly lit room, a blue-clad woman sat in front of a desk in contemplation. Five small glowing rocks, looking like pieces of a larger object, lay on the desk.
"Oh, where are those other 20 pieces..."
*****
Daniel and Jane pulled up upon the warehouses.
“Uh... do I knock?” Daniel asked
"Yes, but you've gotta do it the right way. I'm certain that you will know by instinct." He didn't.
The two of them nearly ended up burnt to a crisp instead, as Daniel felt abused and bemused and Woman In Gold's anger meter was rising fast. She gave the correct knock, and the door opened.
"Welcome, my friends," said a voice.
"My name is Man In Grey. Welcome to... the Hall Of Wizardry."
The door opened onto a warehouse full of disassembled computers and stacks of crates.
"Okay, the Hall Of Wizardry is in the basement, actually." Man In Gray said, leading them to a service staircase at the edge of the room.
At the bottom of the staircase, he pushed open a pair of mahogany double doors to reveal a long hallway with a deep emerald carpet and matching floor and walls. Various doors branched off to the side, and at regular intervals, wooden tables stood, covered in piles of gems or strange magic devices. A man in white robes stood over some form of golden mechanical writing apparatus, tinkering with it.
"What is this place?" Daniel asked.
“The Hall of Wizardry; our current base of operations” Man In Grey explained. “This is incredible. All this hidden under a warehouse?” Daniel said in awe.
He looked around and saw all sorts of incredible things he never would have dreamed of. He turned into a hallway, and happened upon a portrait of a man. He seemed somewhat familiar, and yet he never met him before at the same time.
“Matthew Erdagovern, the first... Man In Blue?” He said in confusion. Going down the line of portraits, he seemed to be going down a family tree of sorts “Phillip, Howard, Hubert...Aaron, Richard, Quincy... grandfather?” He said, coming upon the second to last portrait. But that meant only one thing... coming to the last portrait, he teared up as he put his hand up against the wall beside the portrait
“...Dad...” He said sadly.
"Yes, dear lad, and one day when you're six feet under, rotting away in the ground, ye too shall be here!"
"I... don't suppose you magic people have discovered an elixir of life, eh?" Daniel asked.
"No, but we can totally trap you inside a fish bowl and turn your clothes into banana peels!" Man In Grey said, clapping Daniel on the back.
"Such progress," thought Daniel.
"Well, that's the thing about our order. Without our artifacts, we can't access any of our truly powerful magic. Just healing magic, defensive magic, a few miscellaneous repair spells, that sort of thing."
"Artifacts?" Daniel asked.
"Oh, right, you're new! Well, each bloodline has its own "artifact" that grants it unique and special powers. But until we reassemble the prism, which is impossible, we can't access them, so..."
"Prism?"
Man In Grey did a double take. "Wow, you're really new. Come on, let's go find Woman In Blue. She'll explain everything."
*****
In a rickety old mansion on the far side of the island, seven more glowing rocks sat in a dresser drawer. Next to the drawer, Man In Red was on his hands and knees, begging.
"Man In Off-White! Woman In Orange! Please understand, we did everything we could! It was Woman In Gold!"
"Please. You outnumbered her seven to one and you still failed. You're pathetic." Woman In Orange kicked him.
"We won't fail again! I promise!"
"You won't get the chance." Man In Off-White said. "Ghost White and I are going tonight to destroy his house. You're going to be on... potato duty."
"No! Not potato duty! Please! I'll do anything! Nooooooooooooo!"
*****
Daniel was led into a spacious room dominated by a long wooden table. A woman clad in long blue robes stood at the head of the table.
"Ah, Daniel! My name is Melody Tanjen, and I am-"
"You're Melody Klofroloc, inventor of the Klofroloc refrigerator and the closest thing this island has to a celebrity!"
"The refrigerators are just a front, I'm actually Woman In Blue-" "Can I get your autograph! OMG what an honor!
"No, I don't give autographs to college students" Melody replied bluntly.
This snapped Daniel out of his "starstruck" mode, since she on one of Daniel's nerves, "for crying out loud, I'm 30! I TEACH at a college" he shot back. "And I can't be that much younger than her..." he muttered to himself.
"Beg pardon?" Melody asked.
"... nothing important" Daniel was quick to reply.
"Anyway, Daniel, as I'm sure you've gathered, I am the leader of the Colorfolk, a faction of powerful magic knights who defend the realms of Elbaf and Ordos."
"So, magic is real? And it still exists?"
Woman In Blue chuckled. "Oh, Daniel. Of course it does. Thousands of people still use it. They've just chosen to make themselves scarce."
"Why?"
"Around the time of the Renaissance, technology began to outstrip magic. Even a musket could easily best a mage. See, with magic, there's not much room for subtlety. It's either too weak to matter or earth-shakingly powerful."
Daniel looked confused. "So... magic is real?"
"That's what I... *sigh*. This is why your father should have told you more earlier. Come on, I'll take you to our archivist to learn more about our history."
*****
A few doors down, a large, warmly lit room filled with mostly empty floor-to-ceiling wooden shelves greeted Daniel and Woman In Blue as they entered.
"Wow, that's not half bad."
"Oh, it's pretty bad." A voice said. A young-looking middle eastern woman peeked out from behind a shelf. "Most of the Colorfolk's actual records are in the lost Great Hall Of The Colorfolk back on Ordos. What we have here are very incomplete files. You must be the new Man In Blue. I'm Woman In Silver. Pleasure to meet ya."
Daniel marveled at the files stored in the room. "So you must be the head archivist, then?"
"Oh, goodness no. I just come here a lot because I want to learn as much as I can about the history of magic. Most Colorfolk don't even live to be as old as me, so I guess reading really does lengthen your life."
"As long as you? But... you can't be a day over 25!"
"Oh, no, I'm actually 38! But I'm sure you know what it's like to be mistaken for someone younger."
Daniel blushed. "Yeah..."
"Hey, lovebirds! We're here to talk to the head archivist! Let's go!" Woman In Blue snapped.
"Oh, sorry! I'll get back to the training grounds!" Woman In Silver said. But before slipping out, she whispered some parting advice to Daniel. "Watch out for the head archivist. He's not a bad guy, but he lost his wife and son to a magic cultists a few years ago, and I think he resented your dad for not losing you."
Daniel looked confused, but waved goodbye to his new friend as Woman In Blue lead him through the shelves. The back of the room was much less pleasant. Wooden paneling gave way to bare stone walls and ceiling, and the electric lighting was also unfinished, so honest-to-god torches were the only lighting.
A man in gold robes sat at a bare wooden table at the far end of the room. He was only in his early forties, but grief had aged him. His hair was grey and his face creased, and a look of sorrow was in his deep amber eyes.
"Man In Blue, may I present our head archivist, Man In Gol-"
"Go away."
"Excuse me?"
"The Auxiliary Archive is not accepting visitors at this time. Good day."
"Listen here, Man In Gold, the new Man In Blue is here and he needs to be taught our history. I figured the head archivist would be the right man for the job."
"Any idiot can recite names and dates. I have important work to do translating this ancient Orcish scroll. Get someone else to do it."
"Very well then..." Woman In Blue sighed.
"Sorry about him..." she whispered as they returned to the front of the room. "He used to be a kind, compassionate man, until the Cult Of The Horned One... well, it can't be helped. He knew the risks."
"The... Church of the Horned One?" Daniel asked, confused. "What's that supposed to be?"
“I’ll tell you later. For now we’ll continue with the tour.” Woman in Blue said, gesturing to follow her as she started to walk out of the archive. Daniel was about to follow her, when...
"Well, if you really wanna know..." said an ominous voice behind him. Daniel turned to see Man In Gold behind him.
"The Cult Of The Horned One is the most monstrous group of villains that has ever lived. They worship a great beast that they believe will bring about some sort of armageddon when summoned. They killed my wife and son. But Woman In Blue doesn't care about them. She just wants to continue this pointless feud with the "Evil Colorfolk"."
"We can't stop the Cult without the Prism at full power, and we can't attain that until we stop the evil Colorfolk." Woman In Blue shot back.
"Evil Colorfolk?" Daniel asked. "What? Who?"
"The people who attacked you this morning are just a few members of a splinter group of Colorfolk calling themselves the "Evil Colorfolk". Somehow, they've been corrupted by the Prism's shattering and are determined to do as much damage as possible to keep it that way. Come this way, Man In White can explain more about them."
*****
Man In White was a tall, pale, expressionless man who sat in a bizarrely spartan office examining what appeared to be a wooden stick.
"Woman In Blue." He said by way of a greeting.
"Man In White, could you explain to Man In Blue here who the Evil Colorfolk are?"
"Evil Colorfolk who want to destroy us. Leader is Man In Black. Also dangerous are Man In Green, Woman In Orange, Man In Amber Apricot, Man In Off White, Woman In Pink."
Man In White went back to examining the stick.
"He doesn't talk much. I'm not sure if he experiences human emotion." Woman In Blue explained as they left.
"I'm still confused though," said Daniel. "Which one is more dangerous and why?" "Evil Colorfolk," said Woman In Blue.
"Church of the Horned One!" shouted Man In Gold. "Blast you woman, you haven't been through the hell I've suffered from!"
"The Cult Of The Horned One is a bunch of weak religious fanatics who are nowhere near as dangerous as the Evil Colorfolk. Man In Black is a murderer. Woman In Orange is a sadist. Man In Green is a centrist. Far more dangerous than your silly cult."
"Really now? You really think that? Each member of that confederacy of vile evildoers is a depraved monster. The Cult is a genuine threat."
"Stop being blinded by your loss!"
"Stop being blinded by your pride!"
Daniel watched this fight with some consternation.
"Psst!" It was Woman In Silver. "Come on, I'll continue the tour for you. Once these two
get started... they don't stop."
"So, who are these evil Colorfolk?" Daniel asked, as the duo made their way down another corridor.
"Well, they live in an abandoned hotel in the middle of a swamp. The entire place is surrounded by quicksand-like mud and the only road is well guarded and poorly maintained. And each one of them is a match for us, plus they have no scruples. I've fought them many times and they aren't afraid to fight dirty."
In fact, while this conversation was going on, in a conference room in the abandoned hotel, Man In Red, Man In Green, Woman In Orange and Woman In Pink were waiting for a status report from a black-clad man...
"Goddamn," said Woman In Orange, "I thought he was always punctual." "He is," said a voice. "Your watch is slow." Man In Black entered the room.
The others rose to attention, but he grumpily bid them to sit down. "No time for that crap," he said. "Listen, we're in the doldrums. Those damn Colorbastards are getting on my nerves and-"
"Ease it, Pops," said Pink. "What's this all about?"
"I'll tell you what it's all about!" snapped Man In Black. He glared at the Man in Red. "Due to the failure of the red imbeciles, the Man in Blue is under Blue Faction custody, and is likely being initiated as a Colorman as we speak. He must be eliminated immediately!"
"Already on it." Woman in Orange said. "Off-White and Ghost White are off to eliminate
Man In Blue as we speak." "Good... the Colorfolk must suffer."
"Now, onto the matter at hand... We must figure out a way to gain an advantage over the Colorfolk and a current angle we're looking into is through the excommunicated lines..."
"Excommunicated lines? What? Those exist?" asked Man in Red
"Of course they do you fool! Don't you know our own history?" growled Man in Green in disgust
"Pink, would you be so kind as to inform Green about the topic I've tasked you with thorough research on?" ordered Black
"Of course, though due to spotty records we don't know much about the event... Apparently, four Colorfolk lines, the Men in Bronze, Iron, Steel, and Blood, the Metallic Core as they were called, plotted to destroy the Colorfolk from the inside and are said to be responsible in the penultimate event that shattered the Prism. Because of this, their lines were cut off from the Prismatic power and no longer are powered by it, but due to the events have their weapons permanently manifested. These weapons being a staff, an armor suit, a hammer, and a crucible. No one knows what happened to the four lines after excommunication, though rumors do suggest they're still around and have apparently not been affected by the shattering whatsoever..." answered Woman in Pink
"So... How does that help us?" questioned Red
Man in Black replied, "Think you oaf! If we can learn how to harness their power without being affected by the curse or making the Prism our plaything we could finally triumph over those good bastards! So, how goes the discoveries on that front then Pink?"
"I've found traces of rumors that the Bronze and Blood lines might be active under pseudonyms but nothing concrete... The Man in Iron line traces seemed to have disappeared entirely, probably due to dying off while in hiding and the Man in Steel line has nothing tying to one location, with information on it seemingly disappearing a few decades ago..." responded Pink
"Damn! Another dead end! So Green, do you have another lead on a way we can secure victory over our nemeses?"
"I've been consulting various ideas; there is one we can immediately rule out since it would be a fool's errand" Green pointed out
"Which is?"
"Finding a way to restore our artifacts" Green pointed out.
"Why is it a fool's errand? Wasn't their mention of prism magic being neutral?" Black pointed out.
"Yes, but you know the stories... even if The Prism was neutral, because of "you know who's" influence, all artifacts have an extreme adverse reaction to those with too much black stuff in their hearts, that includes us" Green pointed out.
"Ahhh, the accursed black stuff..." Man In Black muttered. "The one thing preventing us from being able to hide where we really stand on the moral spectrum"
*****
"There's still something I don't get" Daniel asked as he talked to Woman In Blue "What?" she asked.
"I didn't sleep through ethics class; morality is a subjective concept that varies depending on numerous factors; why are our factions called good and evil like its... well, objective" Daniel asked.
"You studied the history of magic; you tell me" Woman In Blue pointed out.
"Well... there's an old legend about black stuff that is said to corrupt a pure heart, but the language was too poetic for me to take it seriously" Daniel explained.
"That would be my department" a man in silver colored robes said as he walked up to them.
"Who are you?" Daniel asked.
"Man In Silver, and that black stuff you speak of is not as much of a legend as you think it is" he said, before producing a jar.
Daniel practically jumped back in terror when he saw it, "What is that stuff?!" he said in shock. The thick, black, tar-like substance was boiling and bubbling... and there was something about it that, although it was clearly not alive, at the same time there was something about it that gave the impression that it was almost alive.
"Man In Silver is the last of the Spirit-type Colormen; I'll let him explain" Woman In Blue offered.
"This... is pure evil, you could say. Nobody knows exactly how it forms, but why it forms is all too well understood. Actions are neutral; it is motivation and consequences of the action that determine whether said action is good or evil. In the case of magic, due to the way magic interacts with the soul, when evil actions are performed, this black stuff builds up in the heart area of the soul over time... eventually so much black stuff builds up in the hearts of the wicked that it ends up influencing them to commit even eviler actions. In our golden age the Spirit type Colormen were highly regarded; the journals of my ancestor describe how they were the first and only ones to perfect the "Corruption purge" spell; the only spell capable of purifying and cleansing the heart
of the wicked. It frees them of the black stuff, turning their corrupted heart into a purified heart" he explained.
"They way you talk about this... this... "corrupted heart standard," you make it sound like it's a big deal in magic"
"Correct. No magic faction has ever denounced it, and what few critics that existed over the centuries, even they could not argue against the evidence supporting it. Even good people have small amounts of this stuff in their hearts, but the thing about a good person is that because their actions are rarely done with evil intentions, and generally do show remorse over evil actions, this small amount is kept in check and has no impact on the morality of said person" Man In Silver finished.
"I... I hope my heart isn't corrupted" Daniel said nervously.
Don't worry... if you had a truly corrupted heart and you were an evil person, you would have spontaneously combusted the moment you set foot in this place" Woman In Blue declared.
"WHAT?!" Daniel asked in shock
"No, I'm just kidding. A morality-based filter would be ridiculous."
"I can detect if someone has a dangerously high amount of black stuff if I focus, but any attempt to build a filter against the black stuff would just block out all humans." Man In Silver elaborated.
"Wait a second, Man and Woman In Blue, Gold, Silver, and a Man In White... is there a Woman In White too?"
"Yeah, she's our magic expert. I think you'll enjoy learning from her." Woman In Blue replied.
Daniel furrowed his brow. "Hang on, what about people who are born intersex, or are non-binary?"
"Yeah, well, our organization is hundreds of years old, so... we don't have any. Unfortunately. Kinda awkward, I know." Man In Silver replied.
"Wait, hundreds of years old? Just how did your organization come to be?" Daniel asked.
"Well... our history is very long and in depth; for the sake of time I will only highlight the important things for now" Man In Silver said as he escorted Daniel to a wall lined with
paintings and tapestries; they seemed to depicted the heroic endeavors of men and women in monochrome robes.
"Our history starts in 1095; on the island of Ordos, just off the coast of Great Britain. Long ago, a mysterious artifact fell from the heavens and crash landed on the island. It's purpose was mysterious and unknown upon landing; King Godfred's men simply could not figure out the purpose of the mysterious artifact. But it's appearance fascinated all who saw it: a perfectly smooth object, of a material similar to glass, and within a great variety of colors swirled and mingled with each other... yet they never mixed" Woman In Blue explained as Daniel looked upon the first painting, depicting the strange object, sitting within what appeared to be a meteor. It reminded him of a story he heard long ago,
"The object was four feet tall, two feet wide and two feet long. It looked like a square pyramid sitting upon a cube... it looked like a glass prism, but closer investigation revealed a most unusual trait: within this prism, a multitude of colors swirled, like many spilled paints upon a surface... yet the colors did not mix." Daniel thought to himself. "But I thought it was just another object of myth like the Holy Grail or Excalibur... The Prism was real?" Daniel asked, confused.
"Indeed. And when it landed on March 7, 1095 it confused all who tried to come near it. It was several weeks before the king finally decided that there was only one man worthy of deciphering the mysteries of The Prism... Matthew Erdagovern" Man In Silver said, gesturing to another painting.
"An ancestor of mine?" Daniel asked
"Yes, but more on that later. Matthew Erdagovern was one of the most celebrated scholars of Ordos; it was his work that convinced the Ordosians to embrace ideas that the rest of Western Europe rejected at the time; the concept of zero, allowing science to advance without hindrance by church beliefs, and even abandoning the use of mercury as a medicine" Woman In Blue explained.
"I guess intellectual pursuits run in the family" Daniel thought to himself.
"Anyway, it was June 11, 1095 at the castle of King Godfred, when the miracle happened" Woman In Blue began.
*****
It was a typical day for Matthew Erdagovern as he sat in his home, contemplating the dreams he had been having. He was not sure why, but in recent weeks a series of seemingly related dreams had been coming up quite frequently, and he was trying to make sense of them. He was sure of one thing: they were signs of events to come.
"Now let's see, what was the common thread here?" he said as he overlooked the notes on his dreams. He saw it rather quickly... "a shard of glass of some kind, falling from the sky. But what is it? This glass was special, there was something to it. It wasn't clear, or solid, it was kind of..." then he looked over to a shelf, where he kept a special glass. He picked it up, and held it up to the sunlight. Out one end came a multitude of colors.
"Color. That's it; there was much color to the glass. So it is a prism. A prism that falls from the sky... but what does that mean?" He thought to himself. But he could not process another thought, for at that moment a knock was heard at his door.
"Who could that be?" He asked himself. To his surprise, it was a messenger of King Godfred.
"Matthew; the King needs you immediately, a strange item has fallen from the sky and he wants you to examine it" he explained.
This could not have been a coincidence. "I will leave at once" Matthew declared, leaving his home immediately and heading for the castle of King Godfred.
Upon arrival, he was escorted to a room where he was told to wait. A few minutes later King Godfred and some others came into the room with a strange looking crystal embedded in a rock. It was the prism from his dreams; but to not scare anyone he would not tell anyone about them just yet.
"Is this the reason you summoned me King Godfred?" Matthew asked.
"Yes; can you make sense of it?" Godfred asked.
"I will do my best" Matthew said. First, he took a look at the inscription upon the rock in which the prism was embedded. It said nothing at first. But unknown to Matthew, it somehow sensed what the language was in this world, and words appeared that matched said language. Matthew read the inscription- “Seated upon this stone from the realm of the stars, is a relic that shall be forever known as The Prism. For those most worthy, power shall be granted, and so long as the prism remains whole, may its strength protect the land it is upon.”
Godfred looked upon it with confusion. “But me, some of my bravest knights and even a member of the clergy have touched it and nothing has happened... aren’t we worthy of such a power?” he said to Erdagovern.
“I don’t think the inscription refers to that kind of worthiness” Erdagovern explained. "Your highness, let me look closer at it; I think we can make sense of it if I do" he requested.
"Do as you will; I trust you" King Godfred said.
So Matthew took a closer look at The Prism. To his surprise, with in there was many, many colors; some of which he had never seen before. And yet, as they swirled around, they never mixed.
He prepared to touch The Prism, when he noticed something. "What is this?" he asked himself. Within the prism, a blue dot began to form, becoming larger and larger. Then text began to appear on the space rock the prism was embedded in. "More writing?" Matthew said, he began to read it: “to claim the power presented, he must be noble in mind, but not in standing. He must be gifted in mind, but gifted in body is not required.” Erdagovern sighed, "well, here goes nothing" and he touched the prism, and suddenly the room froze around him. A mysterious cloaked figure approached him.
"What is this? Who are you?" Matthew asked the cloaked figure. But Matthew could sense the figure meant no harm, and he relaxed. The figure began to speak.
“Matthew Erdagovern, you are a man of humble origin, and though you may not be as strong as a knight, your mental strength is enough to convince the creators of The Prism that you are worthy of its power. From here on out, you shall be blessed with knowledge unknown to your land, and shall be known as the Man In Blue. A sacred artifact shall also be given to you... in your case, a blade shall be gifted to you. You may have no formal training, but your knowledge will let you wield it in ways never thought possible where you come from. The power of the Man In Blue will be passed down along your male bloodline, with the son most worthy of succession inheriting it upon your death or decision to retire and pass down the power. However, he must prove himself worthy of the artifact before he can inherit it. Otherwise, the artifact will phase out of existence, and only return when another of the bloodline proves himself worthy.” The spirit said.
Matthew was shocked at what he had heard. “But such power, and for only one man?” The mysterious cloaked man shook his head “no, and there will be others to emerge... all in due time. But know this... this Blade will be the only artifact that I shall gift to you and your comrades... all others shall be forged by your own hands. Yes, I understand that this may sound unfair, but in time the reasons why will become perfectly clear” the being explained. And with that, Erdagovern suddenly found himself back in the room.
King Godfred was shocked by what now stood in from of him, “My God, what has happened!? One second you are touching this crystal, and the next you are... well, that.”
Matthew Erdagovern looked at himself... to his amazement, he was wearing some sort of robes of solid blue. He was also wielding the very blade he was given during his trance. “Your majesty... I think we have something that can hold back any future Viking invasion."
"You know about that?" King Godfred asked.
"All to well. We are all afraid the Vikings could strike again. It may have been at least three decades, but I fear that there may come a time when they shall show themselves again. More importantly though, this power just might give us the edge over any invader in the future. Please let me explain; I assure you it is all true." Matthew said, and he went on to explain the Spirit of the Prism, and the powers that it would bestow. However, only those of humble origin and standing could possess the power, which was why the knights and clergy weren't accepted. He talked about how there would be more, and they would be revealed in due time.
"Is there any way to accelerate the process? For all we know there could be an invasion tomorrow" King Godfred pointed out.
"We could try summoning various people to the castle who are low in standing, yet gifted in some way. Perhaps the Prism just needs help determining who to choose" Matthew reasoned.
King Godfred agreed, and issued a decree later that week. "I welcome all peasants to come to my castle grounds to take part in a grand competition. Any man who can prove himself to be gifted in mind and body shall be given a great reward at my castle" he said.
Though it was the mind that was important, the "gifted in body" was included with good reason- logically, if they were to fight off invaders, they would need a fighting chance and one should be able to "hold his own" in combat.
Little did anyone know, the next recruits would come sooner than anyone realized.
*****
"And that was the day the Colormen came to be... June 11, 1095 is an important day in the history of the Colormen; in the weeks and months that followed, the faction grew and soon became a force to be reckoned with. We'll talk more about that when the time comes, but for now the history is just so rich, we simply must continue" Man In Silver continued.
"Hold up... Colormen? Are you saying the women came later?" Daniel asked, confused.
"Well to be honest... we're not entirely sure what happened. The Man In Gold line is responsible for maintaining the archives of our ancestors works and journals, and the early Colorwomen journals haven't been translated to modern english" Man In Silver explained.
"That's NOT mine or my father's fault!" Man In Gold shouted, "unlike the Colormen who stuck with middle English, the first generation of Colorwomen wrote in a weird
mixture of Old English and Middle English making translation THAT much harder!" he shouted in his defense.
"Do we know ANYTHING about the origin of the Colorwomen?" Daniel asked in disbelief.
"Well... um... Matthew Erdagovern was one of nine children... and his three sisters were the first Woman In Yellow, Woman in Gray and Woman In Lavender" Man In Silver thought.
"That's it?" Daniel asked in further disbelief.
"It's incredibly unclear... some sources mention the two sexes warring for hundreds of years, and some sources mention them forming side by side... and some sources mention two men in blue... best not to think about it too much." Woman In Silver explained.
Woman In Blue stood. "Now that you know a bit more about our order, the question remains... are you ready to take the color folk oath and begin your training in the craft of our ancestors?"
"I mean... this place is kind of far from my apartment, and I teach at a university... but I do want to learn magic... so my answer is... let me think about it first; this is a lot to take in, and it will have a huge impact on my life. I need to know that I am confident in my decision" Daniel explained.
"I understand; we won't force anything upon you" Woman In Blue assured before Daniel went to leave
*****
He had returned to his apartment, his mind trying to wrap around everything that had happened today. From being attacked to shocking revelations, it was just so, so much. Honestly he wished that he could just go back to the way things were. Somehow, he figured that wouldn't be possible.
"Dad... I wish you were here right now" he sighed before turning in for the night.
*****
Daniel slept and tried to get lost in his dreams. But instead of the usual abstract visuals, he suddenly felt like things were rather concrete. In a gray, foggy realm that seemed endless in all directions, he suddenly saw a figure. He began running towards it, becoming clearer as it became closer and closer. Once only a few feet away, he stood behind said figure.
"Hello? Who are you?" Daniel asked. The figure turned around, revealing himself to be someone all too dear to Daniel.
"D...Dad?" Daniel asked in disbelief. But then, he remembered that he was asleep. "Right... dreams... you're just a figment of my imagination" Daniel sighed.
"Not quite" the figure suddenly spoke up. "It really is me, Daniel... but my time is limited and it will be a while before we can meet like this again."
"I don't understand" Daniel said, confused.
"Do you know why the Colormen have bloodlines in the first place? A power unique to The Prism is its ability to allow the living Colormen to communicate with their departed ancestors. However, with the Prism in its current state, we can only appear in your dreams, and for very brief periods"
"But you are dead"
"Yes; this is only possible because of our soul's bond to the prism; and this communication can only be possible when there is a connection between the two souls in question, that is why the bloodlines exist... so that the knowledge of all those who came before can still be used by those who come later" and Andrew gestured behind him... the complete line of Men In Blue that came before Daniel... well, almost complete.
"Wait... where's Grandpa?" Daniel asked, confused.
"Sound asleep in his house in the Hamptons... always did have the heart of a bull... probably got another four years left in him, lucky b*stard" Andrew groaned.
"Yea, Grandpa Wallace always was a lively one" Daniel chuckled. That old Andrew Erdagovern wit... he was really going to miss that.
"Anyway, I want you to know this... you are not alone when you walk this path. The road ahead of you will be long and hard. But this is a path you must follow, not just for your sake, but for the sake of all that is good and just. The Colormen are in dire shape right now... and it is up to you to bring them together again. Be strong Daniel, because what happens next is up to you. And if I raised you right, I know you will make the right decision" Andrew assured, before the sequence ended, and Daniel found himself alone in the fog again.
"I won't let you down" Daniel said, now firm in his decision to move forward. He would do what it took to become the Man In Blue, and not just for him, but for everyone else. Come the morning, he knew what he would do.
As for the Colormen that were going to attack the apartment...
*****
"Are you sure this is the right address?"
"Of course it is! I wrote it down just as Black said it!"
"Well, I don't see an apartment building, do you?"
Indeed, the pair were standing in front of an empty lot. "Ugh; let's go back to base, this
is a waste of time" the first muttered.
"Hang on, now... there it is!" Man In Off-White said, pointing to the brick-built high rise.
"Hang on... aren't there innocent people in there? Are you sure we should be doing this?" Man In Ghost White asked.
Man In Off-White turned and looked at him for a second, before both burst out laughing.
"You should have seen your face!" Man In Ghost White guffawed.
"You really had me going!" Man In Off White chortled. "Let's go, shall we?"
*****
In his apartment, Daniel woke from his dream.
"Well, it was nice to see my dad again... but I'm not gonna get much sleep tonight..." Daniel stood and looked out the window. And that's when he saw the two ghostly figures.
"Who are those people and what are they doing?" One of them looked up and saw him.
"Hey! It's 2 AM! You shouldn't be out there!"
Suddenly, a molotov cocktail flew through his window. Daniel dived back and was barely able to avoid the explosion. A shard of glass slit his cheek and his table caught fire.
Daniel reacted on instinct. The blood on his cheek suddenly shot out like a jet, turning into water in midair, landing on the fire and extinguishing it.
Daniel jumped towards the window and grabbed a textbook. He threw it across the field and it hit one of the fleeing figures in the back of the head. And then it became too much for him and he collapsed.
*****
Man In Off-White sighed in annoyance as his partner collapsed due to blunt force trauma from a textbook.
"Jesus christ, that could have killed him! This Man In Blue is goddamn vicious…"
*****
When Daniel awoke, a purple-clad man was standing over him. He was in an unfamiliar room awash with light.
"What? Where am I?" He asked, his memory hazy.
Woman In Blue materialized next to him. "What do you remember?"
"I remember... my father..."
"Hmm... do you remember how you put out the fire?"
Everything came back to him. "The fire! Is the apartment okay?"
Woman In Blue nodded. "That's what we wanted to talk to you about. Are you familiar
with necromancy?"
"That's magic to do with zombies and stuff, right?" Daniel asked. "Oh god, is that sweet lady next door a zombie?"
Woman In Blue chuckled. "Creating the undead is just one facet of necromancy. The magic of death is also the magic of life, and the human body. Blood mages, healers... all technically necromancers. And based on what you did to put out that fire, it appears you have some natural aptitude for necromancy. We must begin your training at once."
"But I haven't decided if I want to join or not!"
"What if the evil Colorfolk attack your apartment again? Wouldn't you rather know how to fight back?"
“Well, yes, but... this goes against everything I know about magic” Daniel explained. “How so?” Woman In Blue asked.
“Well; in my research on magic, my understanding was that the aptitude’s are based on the elements: Fire, water, earth, air, dark, light, ice and electric. Where does necromancy fall?”
“Traditional necromancy is considered dark magic; but the connection to healing magic kinda put it in its own box in recent centuries” Man In Gold said from across the room.
“Wait a minute; if the black stuff corrupts one’s heart based on consequences and motivations, and disturbing the dead is considered evil... No! I don’t want my heart to become corrupted!” Daniel said in shock, holding his hands over his heart.
“Daniel, calm down; like I said, that’s just one part of it.” Woman In Blue reminded him.
“What do I do to study then? It’s not like books are readily available for me to read” Daniel said.
“What makes you think that?” Woman In Blue asked.
“It was a story Dad told me as a kid... long ago the largest faction dedicated to necromancy... at least the raising the dead part... angered the local king, and in an event many consider “divine justice” a meteor crashed into their castle some time later; all the factions members were killed and the library obliterated. Apparently the event became highly publicized and people interpreted it as god’s wrath against those practicing “a sinful art” and it was a contributing factor towards the long held stigmas against necromancy” Daniel recalled.
“Is that all you know about necromancy?” Woman In Blue asked
“Pretty much; I only know what my dad told me... and until recent I thought they were just bedtime stories” Daniel admitted.
”that story is true Daniel; but you should know it only scratches the surface of necromancy. Not to mention, elemental aptitudes are just one part of the puzzle, and Colorfolk can't even use most elemental magic... You know what, there’s a lot to explain, it’s probably best we do it later. For now we need to focus on the current situation, which is you becoming the Man In Blue" Woman in Blue decided.
"Also, disturbing the dead isn't inherently evil." Man In Gold added.
"Current situation, Man In Gold. So what first to do?” Woman In Blue asked.
“Well traditionally the artifact is handed off first; but that’s on hold for obvious reasons” Man In Silver pointed out
“Yes, true... then what came next?” Woman In Blue asked.
“Well to begin the path to becoming a Colorman, he needs to know what aptitudess he does have; It’s the only way to figure out what areas he needs to study so we know who is best to teach him” Man in silver pointed out
“Yes; we each have different specialties, so the sooner we know where he is strongest the sooner he can begin his journey”
"We've already established that necromancy is one of them... but to find the others, Woman In White will have to train you. Come with me."
Daniel stood and followed Woman In Blue to a large open room, lined with mirrors and filled with mannequins covered in magic debris and at least one trapped under an oversized fishbowl. In the center of the room, a scrawny woman with dreadlocks was punching a mannequin. She whirled and nearly fell over when Daniel entered.
"Ah, you must be the new Man In Blue! Come in! Let's teach you about magic!"
*****
*****
As Daniel began to learn the intricacies of magic, the Man in Black was receiving a report from the off shade Whites...
"You WHAT?" shouted Man in Black angrily
"We... We were overpowered by a textbook..." replied Man in Off-White
"ARGH! I'll deal with you're punishment later! As they say... If you want something done right, send a creature that will follow your orders to the bitter end... You two! Come with me to the basement! I'll need you to help undo it's chains..." laughed Man in black as he left his office. The two off shades only gulped in fear...
*****
Rattling could be heard from the iron door as loud thuds banged against it, as if trying to escape... Man in Black looked onward evilly...
"Now you two don't have the willpower strong enough to control one of these things, so for your best interest you should just undo it's bindings or else it might kill you on, 'accident'..." chuckled Man in Black
The two Whites watched in worriment as Man in Black snapped his fingers, and the iron door opened, revealing the monstrosity inside...
"You two, the chains, NOW!" ordered Man in Black
As the duo rushed to unlock the chains, the monster is released and charges at Man in Black, but with a stare of intimidation, the Goliath bends its knee...
"Yes, even though you're one of Dagonar's mighty creations, even 'you' know to crumple before my superior might... I have one job for you, KILL the Man in Blue, don't stop until he's crushed beneath you, don't let anyone get in your way, do you hear me?" ordered the Man in Black as the monster shook its head in agreement
“Now, where should I drop you off?"
*****
As Daniel was receiving his training, an alarm rang loudly throughout the Colorfolk's base...
"What is that?" questioned Daniel
"It means someone is under attack from a magical entity, come quickly to the seer's room!" spoke Woman in Blue. The three Colorfolk rushed to a room where a small pool with a crystal ball half submerged projected an image onto the vapor emanating off of the pool...
"Is it the Evil Colorfolk?" asked Daniel
"No... Much Worse... The town of Blackwell is being besieged by... A Stone Golem!" "Man In White! You know the drill!" Woman In Blue shouted.
"I'm on it" He declared as he went to get a few things.
"Daniel, we're going to keep you in a safe place; don't worry, stone golems are one of the most researched of all magic creatures and Man In White is the greatest tactician of the living Colorfolk; that said, just because we can out-think a golem doesn't mean it's going to be a walk in the park" Woman In Blue warned.
Daniel was escorted away as the base went on red alert.
*****
Ordos, September 1109
The victorious Colormen stood outside as they watched the castle burn. It had been a long war, but thankfully "they" had been defeated. The Order of Masteri, the faction responsible for the creation of golems, had been wiped out at long last.
"This was an ill-conceived war on their part; had they known what we were capable of, I doubt they would have started all this" Man In Red mused.
"No; you saw their arrogance... they would have fought us to the bitter end regardless of how much they knew about us. Man In Gold... I know you hate the destruction of knowledge but... I believe we can both agree that this is for the best" Man In Blue explained.
"Agreed... golem magic is too dangerous for any one man to wield. The world would be better off forgetting about the Masteri and their creations" Man In Gold concurred.
"And... us?" One of the two surviving ice golems that had turn-coated asked. Though not as smart as humans they were able to register what was going on around them and respond accordingly.
"Perhaps the mountains would be the ideal home for you two; follow me" Man In Cerulean said as he lead them away.
"Was anything saved?" Man In Gold asked.
"I pulled out a few scrolls for research purposes before we torched the library; even if golem magic is dangerous there may be something there we can find useful" Man In Bronze said before handing them to Man In Gold.
"You'll be remembered as a hero for this Man In Bronze; the charge you lead today, has changed the world for the better" Man In Blue said before leading a cheer for Man In Bronze, the hero of the hour.
*****
Back in the Present, Man In White began outlining the plan of attack as the team assembled.
"Golems are magical constructs, so a strong anti-magic field would take it out- but also render us powerless. So we're gonna send those of us who don't rely on magic to fight effectively. Woman In Silver, Woman In Gold, and Woman In Blue, are you three ready?"
"Ready as we'll ever be." Woman In Silver said. "But what about the rest of you?"
"Who do you think is gonna set up the anti-magic field?" Man In Silver asked. "Woman In White, Man In Gold, and I will set it up here." He pointed to a spot on the map. "You just need to lure the golem here. Once it's in range, we'll activate the field and take out the golem."
"It's still risky. The rest of you aren't trained in non-magic combat. We don't want anyone getting hurt." Woman In Blue said.
"We'll be fine. We just need to get to the edge of the anti-magic field and then wait for the effect to wear off." Man In Silver pointed out.
"Alrighty then... move out!"
As the Colorfolk entered Blackwell, they did not expect what they saw. For context, the lower rank mages of Order of Masteri could make golems ranging from 5 to 7 feet tall, and it's strength was dependent on the magic inserted into it by it's creator, either through a core or commanded much like an animal. The higher ranked mages could make golems almost autonomous, with the two highest mages in the order, Dagonar and Alabaster, could create ones with minds or bodies as great as any low rank mage in their own Order...
What stood in front of the six Colorfolk was a 10 foot tall, 40 ton weighing monstrosity, something personally crafted by Dagonar and lost to time... The buildings and roads looked as if a bomb had gone off with how much destruction it was capable of causing just by removing such structures from their foundations...
"What is that monster?" asked Woman in Silver
"Something I don't think we can punch effectively..." lamented Woman in Gold
"Buck up ladies... We have to distract it long enough for the others to set up the anti- magic field..." ordered Woman in Blue as the other two, shrugged, and carried on with her. The three Colorwomen walked down the destroyed street filled with wrecked cars and debris, seeing the stone golem straight before them...
"Not... Here..." mumbled the Golem
"Hey ugly! We don't like you destroying Blackwell! It's the only place that makes decent Mexican on this whole island!" shouted Woman in Gold as the stone behemoth turned towards the trio...
"Kill... The Blue one..." groaned the Stone Golem as its eyes shown once it saw Woman in Blue's shining robes. The golem charged with an ungodly speed unfitting of its size, nearly taking out Woman in Blue if she hadn't dodged in time...
"Come on! It's fast AND big! That's totally unfair!" shouted Woman in Silver
"Well this fight got a whole lot tougher..."
*****
An hour passed and the other trio was still not finished setting up the anti-magic field...
"Hurry up Gold!" shouted Woman in White in a fuss
"I'm not as young as I used to be! Besides, if I'm not careful, one wrong move and the whole field won't activate!" growled Man in Gold
As he was chalking down the last few symbols, a dust cloud erupted and a gigantic shadow from within approached the magical trio... It was the Golem Monstrosity holding Woman in Blue by the neck...
"Not the Woman... Kill the Man in Blue..."groaned the Golem as he threw the Woman in Blue at Man in Gold, knocking out Man in Gold with the speed of the throw and Woman in Blue's weight, who was barely conscious herself...
"Melody! Silver! Help me slow it down!" yelled Woman in Gold in frustration as she grabbed one of the chains dangling from the behemoth's arms
"Argh! Fine! It's futile though!" grunted Man in Silver as he grabbed the other arm's chain and with Woman in Gold, try to slow it down with sheer might...
"In... The... WAY!" as the Golem stomped its feet, knocking the Colorfolk off balance enough to pull the duo restraining it off their feet and sending them flying after the force of the pull caused them to let go of the chains...
The Stone Monstrosity had easily defeated six of the Good Colorfolk's strongest members, and was now heading towards their base...
*****
Daniel and the Man in White could see all this through the blurry visions of the seer's crystal...
"I have to stop it..." said Daniel
"Are you crazy? You barely know magic, how are YOU going to stop it rookie?" questioned Man in White
"I can't let anymore people get hurt because of me, it's time for me to fight too..." stoically spoke the usually weak willed Daniel
"Ah... Fine... Let me prepare you with what I can, I'm a tactician after all..." sighed Man in White in defeat...
*****
Daniel Erdagovern looked onward as a Stone Monster approached him, unfazed by the coming danger...
It was time to show everyone why he accepted this mantle...
He approached the battlefield, taking note of the situation before him. The golem lost interest in the six and was now directing its attention elsewhere, looking for Man In Blue.
Daniel remembered what Man In White told him.
*****
"The important thing is to remember your advantages- the golem is relatively stupid; its extremely hard even with magic to "program intelligence" if you will- golems, hommunculi- you name it, there's a reason why its intelligence is often no better than that of a small child. That's your first advantage"
Indeed, Daniel was remaining quiet and out of sight, trying to formulate the best way to approach the monster. This meant only one thing- from behind.
"The second thing to remember is that golems, while powered by magic, can't cast magic. Doing so would drain the pool of magic in them to the point of becoming inert. They are dominantly close range fighters; a stone golem's only range attack is throwing stones. Lazy, sure, but when there isn't much going on upstairs, the simple is all they comprehend."
Daniel then took out the object that Man In White had given him; it was akin to a tarot card, but served a very different purpose.
"Until that anti-magic field can be activated, placing this directly on the golem is the next best thing. This card, when it comes in contact with the golem, will essentially be
like putting a leak in a barrel of water; it'll allow the magic to leave the golem... once all the magic is gone it will revert to ordinary stone... and without a Masteri mage to revive it, shall remain ordinary stone"
"What about..."
"... no Masteri literature survives; the last remaining scrolls were destroyed centuries ago to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands" Man In White answered, practically reading his mind.
*****
"I gotta make this count; I only got six of these" Daniel thought to himself. Slowly and quietly, he began sneaking up on the golem, as it walked up the street, looking for the Man In Blue.
He waited for the right moment... when Daniel got close enough, he ran up and slapped the first card on the back of the golem, somewhat midway behind the back and near it's left arm. "I guess a humanoid shape was the most practical" Daniel thought to himself. As soon as he slapped it on, he ducked behind some rubble and out of sight. The golem swung around violently, but saw no movement.
"Kill...blue one... kill... blue one" it repeated to itself. Daniel peaked and could see that it was already working. There was something about the golem that was almost "glowing" of sorts; the magic infused in its body that gave the normally inert stone animation, he reasoned. But now that "the card" had poked a hole in the barrel, so to say, Daniel could see it was working. The left arm of the golem suddenly lost it's glow, and in a matter of seconds, detached from the golem, and fell onto the earth, becoming ordinary stone once again.
“Arm... gone? ARM GONE!?!?" It shouted angrily.
*****
"Remember- stone cannot regenerate. And without a Masteri mage to repair it, a golem cannot fix itself. If you cut off any part of a golem, it becomes ordinary stone again. Your only chance to defeat it... is to whittle it down to size, literally" Man In White explained.
"I understand" Daniel said, preparing to go into the battle.
*****
"It's working! Ok, so I need to do this five more times then?" He thought to himself.
As Daniel began to try for another go, he accidentally kicked a piece of rumble against the Golem's leg, and the Golem looked down to see its target quite literally under its "nose" so to speak...
"I found it... The Blue Man... KILL IT!" roared the golem as he stomped on the ground, sending shock waves across the earth, and knocking Daniel off his feet and a few feet away from the Monstrosity...
"Oh crap... Tuck and roll!" shouted Daniel as he tried to avoid the behemoth, now more forceful since his target was within view...
"Kill the Blue Man... Be Free... Crush... The... BLUE MAN!" roared the monster once more...
"Out think it... out think it" Daniel thought to himself as he began running. Then he saw his chance. "I got it!" he realized. Luring the Golem towards a fallen large metal sign, Daniel positioned himself just in front of the sign. The golem went to punch him, and Daniel moved at the last second. The golem's remaining arm went into the sign, now wrapped around the arm like a metal sleeve of sorts, stuck. This was Daniel's moment
Running into an alley, he put distance between him and the Golem; a fair distance separated them by the time the Golem freed itself. Charging down the alley, Daniel reached the point where the alley came to a "T" of sorts. He went to the left and was out of sight for a good bit. By the time the Golem reached the turn itself, when he looked down the direction Daniel had run... it saw nothing.
"Where... blue man? WHERE BLUE MAN!?" It screamed as it began going towards the direction where Daniel had run off to.
Daniel knew he had to count his blessings after this one, because he had the luckiest break yet. The golem, so fixated on looking forward, failed to consider the sides... like the truck loading bay that Daniel had ducked into... the reason he made the left at the T. Now that he was behind the golem again, he knew what he had to do. Once again sneaking up quietly behind the golem, he waited until they had reached near the end of the alley. Seeing the wrecked car that was off to the side, he knew what came next... as soon as the golem was in just the right spot, Daniel went up to it and slapped another of the cards on it, this time on the right leg, just above the knee. He ducked behind the car before the golem turned around. The golem scanned the area for the blue man, but found nothing.
"I can't believe I'm doing this" Daniel muttered to himself. He bolted back down the alley, intentionally getting the attention of the golem this time.
"KILL BLUE MAN, KILL BLUE MAN!" It shouted. The golem began giving chase and was steadily catching up to Daniel. They must have gone 100 yards before anything happened.
"Oh please work" Daniel thought. Finally, after so many steps, the glow from the golem's right leg disappeared, and when he took a step and went to lift his leg, the right leg from just above the knee and down completely detached, becoming ordinary stone. Losing it's footing, the golem flew a distance before crashing into the ground with an enormous thud. Briefly disoriented, Daniel charged the Golem and placed two more of the cards; one on its head above the left eye, and other dead center of the lower back. He didn't have time to place the other two as the golem suddenly began registering what was going on and starting going at it with its good arm.
"DIE! DIE!" It screamed. Now Daniel had the speed advantage as the golem was reduced to hopping on it's good leg. But the damage had been done.
In addition to losing its left arm and most of its right leg, the two now added caused the left side of its head to collapse, and a gaping hole to form in its stomach area; the stone crumbled and gave way, allowing one to quite literally see through the golem.
"Get back here!" It screamed. But with every hop, little pebbles and stones now began falling off him; the four "holes in the barrel" were making the magic dissipate all the faster; but he would not go down without killing the blue man.
"I've got to find the anti-magic field; once its activated the golem can be stopped once and for all" Daniel said as he headed towards the location from the initial plan Man In White had outlined.
Daniel was nearing the edge of town where the Magic trio had originally set up the field, but the Stone Golem was gaining on him. Through crippled by the loss of it's right leg, it entered a more wild state using it's right arm in a sort of crawl motion. Every time it's arm it the ground, the earth shook with a violent thunder...
"Kill... Blue Man... Kill him... Be... Set FREE!" roared the behemoth, inching ever so closer to Daniel's tail...
'Almost... There...' thought Daniel as the Monstrosity's arm slam down almost on top of him, but he slid just narrowly avoiding it. he realized his was at the spot Man in Gold hadn't finished drawing, seeing his knocked out comrades surrounding him...
"It's now or never!" shouted Daniel as he slammed down the card onto the unfinished chalk drawing, where a blue light activated in six smaller circles that made one big circle surrounding the Stone Golem. The blue light lightninged across the ground shocking the stone monster, destroying at last two limbs. It laid there in agony as the blue light slowly broke away the stone...
"Dying... Wasn't part of... The deal... They said... Kill the Blue Man... And... I would finally... Be... Fre... E..." spoke the Golem for the final time as stones broke into pebbles leaving only a blue crystal whose light eventually dulled into being clear, meaning the magic essence controlling the golem was no more...
"This... This is wrong... I'm sorry you were used as a weapon of war... I refuse from here on out to never kill such an unwilling soldier again..." said Daniel as he looked on sadly...
*****
"Damn! Not even a weapon made by Dagonar himself could stop that new Man in Blue..." said Man in Green
"He truly is like his father…" added Woman in Orange
"Just you wait Erdagovern, I WILL successfully end your line next time!" growled Man in Black as he slammed his fist on the desk in anger, then throwing the seeing crystal out of spite, shattering it...
*****
Congratulations Daniel on your first Colorman victory! With the skills you showcased, you certainly have what it takes to be one of us... Three cheers!" shouted the recovering Woman in Blue as the Colorfolk sat around a banquet table celebrating, with Daniel at the head...
"Thank you... All of you... With your help, I hope to properly inherit this mantle and make my father proud!" replied Daniel as the Colorfolk raised their glasses in agreement, happy to have a new useful member apart of their group...
But even though they increased their ranks, trouble was on their horizon…
*****
Back at the Colorfolk's base, Daniel was shown into a strange room. The other seven Colorfolk he had fought alongside were all there, lining the walls. At the far end of the room was a small marble pedestal, and atop that pedestal were five strange glass fragments. Daniel walked towards the pedestal hesitantly. Woman In Silver gave a reassuring smile as he passed.
Woman In Blue stood behind the pedestal, her hands held high. She began speaking in a somber tone.
"Today, we welcome Daniel Erdagovern, the latest of his house, to our noble order. He inherits today the title of "Man In Blue". He has already proven himself a quick thinker, and he is sure to do us proud."
A blinding light flashed from the five shards, and Daniel suddenly felt a tingling sensation as the light washed over him.
When he could see again, he realized his attire had changed. He was wearing robes of a piercing blue, lined with a sturdy black fabric. A quick glance around the room revealed it was very similar to the robes the other Colorfolk wore.
Woman In Blue grinned. "Are you ready to begin your training in earnest, Man In Blue?" Man In Blue nodded. "I am.”
*****
A man in grey colored clothing was shuffling through the rubble of the Attack on
Blackwell, he had a hammer on his back...
"Man, that fight was intense, but from what I saw they left it behind... Ah ha! A Golem Core! Damn, that thing was a Siege Grade Golem, I'm surprised they left the core behind... Well, at least I know Adriana will get a kick out of this..."
End of Chapter 1