1 Chapter 1: Out of the Fire

Crickets chirped in chorus with the bellows of frogs, masking my foot falls, as I crept along the outer wall of the castle. Cold from the stone leeched into my skin through the thin uniform making me shiver each time I brushed against it. Light from the castle windows illuminated the gardens while thick clouds covered the moon, allowing my eyes to make out some details around me. I looked up as I made it halfway along the wall, counting the windows to find the correct one. Twenty-six in from the right of the corner was dark just as I had expected.

From the bag on my hip, I pulled out a scroll. Unrolling it on the wall exposed two intricately drawn circles displayed side by side. Placing each of my palms over a circle I felt inward to the magic core near my heart. With a pull, magic flowed from my core through my arms and hands and into the magic circles as if a dam had broken. A slight yellow glow, mainly covered by my hands, proceeded the activation of the magic circles and the subsequent disintegration of the scroll.

Pulling my hands off the wall took effort proving the spell was a success. With a smirk I glanced up at my target and began to climb. With no spell at work on my feet I could only climb with my hands, but I had built up enough muscle from weapon training over the years that it didn't even faze me. With each floor I passed the chance of discovery increased causing my palms to sweat and the spell to start to slip. Increasing my speed, I made it to the window just as my grip on the stones started to fail.

With my feet planted on the windowsill and my left hand holding onto the frame my right hand was free to reach into the bag on my waist again. I pulled out a fold of leather that held a few pieces of metal. Pulling out two with my teeth I put the leather back before using the metal with my right hand to pick the lock on the window with deft fingers. Several moments later the windows swung open allowing my entry.

I put the metal picks back in the leather as I observed the room. It was no bigger than ten square feet. Directly opposite the window were a set of double doors, the walls had large family portraits of the most famous royals and tall candle holders in each corner. In the center of the room was the only furniture, a lone table, which supported a chest. One foot by one foot by one half foot big and decorated with gold ornate designs that shimmered even with no light.

Creeping into the room I looked around to make sure no guards had been posted inside on top of those that were outside the doors. Seeing no one I closed the windows to prevent any guards on patrol outside from noticing anything odd. With that done I made my way in front of the chest. On closer inspection I could tell that the chest was made of Modrium. A metal naturally infused with all four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. The metal was extremely rare in the kingdom and usually only found in mountains where the natural elements are equal in measure and in harmony. However, those locations would also become elemental wastelands given enough time due to Modrium's unique nature. Its nature is the ability to attract elemental mana in its surroundings. Due to its attractive quality everything near it can't be supported by magic because Modrium would steal it. As a chest, though, Modrium would be used to funnel elemental mana into whatever was within it.

Ignoring for the moment the material and what was inside I focused instead on how to open the chest. Logically, because Modrium would take the mana supporting any traps in the room, the only traps I had to worry about were those engraved into the chest itself which the Modrium would power. I couldn't see nor feel any engraving that would destroy the contents of the chest but there were several that would send out a spell that would not only kill me but also cause a ruckus that would draw attention from the entire castle and surroundings.

The engravings prevented any forceful methods of getting to the contents of the chest. The only evident crack in its protections was the large keyhole in the front. Focusing my attention on the engravings near the keyhole proved my theory of there being a crack, wrong. No lockpick would prove useful, manual or magic. Blowing myself up was very possible or just melting the metal lockpicks in the keyhole. The longer I studied the engravings the more in awe of the designer I became. Elemental arrays were hard to construct in general not to mention engravings where no mistakes were permitted. Modrium itself would prove difficult because all elements must to be used in the arrays and with balanced strength.

The moment the thought crossed my mind I froze. Realizing I had found the only flaw with the arrays, which was that there were no flaws. Balance must be maintained, or the arrays will fail. I had to mess with the balance without causing an overload, which would trigger the array.

Restudying the arrays, I specifically looked for the connection points. For the engravings were all one big array comprised of mini complementary arrays. The connection points between each mini array were like keyholes and could be manipulated to open them. There were one hundred and three connection points and all of them must be given diverting pathways at the same time or it would set them all off.

From my bag I pulled out a blank scroll, a pen and four different bottles of ink. Setting everything down on the floor I unrolled the scroll, holding each corner with one of the bottles of ink, and uncorked each bottle. The four bottles contained ink infused with one of the four elements. Lifting the pen, I chose one type of ink and began to draw. Arrays were complicated but when there was only one action they need to perform, they become much simpler. One hundred and three identical arrays appeared on the scroll each matching a connection point and the corresponding element.

After placing the pen and recapped ink into my bag once again I stood holding the scroll. Holding it over the chest with the arrays pointing down I pulled the magic from my core and flooded the scroll with it. Orange, blue, yellow, and green light flashed for an instant before fading. Knowing the flash could bring the guards I hurried to check if the engravings had lost their light signaling the loss of elements powering it. The diverting I had done with my array was temporary as it had not caused any damage to the engraving meaning it would gradually fill once again with magic. The gentle light that had filled the room was gone showing that I had succeeded.

Lifting the lid, I saw a fist sized maroon colored crystal nestled in bright red silk. A crooked smile spread across my face as I saw the prize I was hoping for.