Erlem

Erlem felt the warmth of the sun on his face, the bright light beamed into his closed eyes causing him to turn to the side and feel dry warm grass prick his face. Erlem sat up as he realized he was outside and not in the castle in his bed. His mind was racing as he began to scan the area for danger. It was a field of low grass with swatches of cat-tails checkered throughout the field until it came to a large wall. Erlem got up from his spot on the ground and brushed his sleeping robes off.

"At least im not naked! I hate dreams where i'm naked."

Erlem was convinced this was a vivid dream brought on by his omen. It was not uncommon for his Omen dreams to blur the line between reality and something else. He stood there waiting for whatever evil thing that was to torture him this time to make itself known but the longer he waited the more he began to believe maybe it wasn't an Omen dream at all.

Erlem decided to take a better look around and make sure he was still dreaming, he decided to walk up the closest hill to get to high ground and survey his surroundings. He realized he was barefoot and wasn't sure if he was in fact in a dream and didn't want to risk the bottoms of his feet to find out.

He tried a bit of magic, a simple spell that enveloped his feet in shoes that seemed to be made of blue light. They were solid but also translucent like a ghast. They felt as though he was wearing nothing at all.

"Good at least i can still do magic in this dream."

Erlem took off up the hill with extra fervor, the shoes also provided him a small speed boost allowing him to move quickly up the hill without even losing his breathe. When Erlem made it to the top of the hill the shoes evaporated leaving him barefoot once again.

"well my magics much weaker for some reason."

Erlem began to look around the area below in all directions, it had been over a week since Erlem had seen the sunshine and his eyes hadn't really adjusted. Erlem had to cup is hands over his eyes to allow him to peer through the brightness.

As Erlem peered out further towards the northside of the hill he saw what looked like castle Blud'heim, but it couldn't have been. Erlem was just in his room in the castle just hours before and the castle was an immaculate fortress with beautiful black marble towers and mahogany woodwork. What lay before him was a ragid and worn old castle, most of its towers were broken and laid in ruin. most of the castle was obviously in disrepair.

"This has to be a dream of some sort! wake up wake up wake up"

Erlem began to feel sick to his stomach when he closed his eyes tight and reopened them to see the castle in the same sorry state as before.

He began to think maybe he was in the future, that somehow when he was sleeping he opened a portal or maybe his omen finally sucked him up and this is where you go when you lose your soul>

"this is castle Blud'heim during the day"

Voice echoed in Erlems head, He jumped from the surprise. He began to look around the area prepared to have to fight some unknown assailant hiding behind a cat-tail or blending in with the grass itself.

"I'm an autumn witch! i hav emore magic than you think and i will use whatever i have to in order to protect myself!"

Laughter filled his head before replying condescendingly, "OH, Master Mage Erlem please do not turn me into a toad!"

It laughed again before falling silent for a few moments, Erlem assumed to collect himself so he could properly torment him.

"Erlem, you aren't dreaming right now, but you also are not really awake. I guess you could say your body is asleep but your soul is really here. I astral projected your soul here."

Astral projection wasn't one of the forms of magic Erlem had been aloud to learn yet, it was truly advanced and usually a mage could only astral project himself knowingly, somehow he had been forced to do so and without him even knowing it was happening. This was powerful magic he had been victim of and whomever had used it was something Erlem definitely couldn't win a fight against

"Do not fear me Erlem, just listen to me and trust that i do not want you harmed. You must leave the castle before the sun sets. Do not get back on the titan road. Head directly north until you reach the mages path."

" I can't leave without Daisy, she'll be back soon."

"No she won't. Erlem I am her daemon, Daisy is no longer with us. She never even made it till dusk on that first day. "

Erlem had flashes of Stanely pinned to the wall with arrows sticking out of his eyes and throat, of him and Daisy playing magical games at the gnob. He felt as though his heart had the long cold blade of a dagger sliding through it.

" You're lying, your just some Omen spirit tormenting me! Leave me alone!"

Erlem broke down falling to his knees, tears swept across his face like a violent rain storm, the clouds above grew darker before spilling heavy rain down across the field. He cried for a short time before the Daemon grew impatient.

" I can only keep you here a short while longer, my power is dying as my owner has. You must escape this place, this is a place of evil these are not elves, These are pretenders, they've been tainted by dark magic. I do not know what they are but they are not the immortal elves of the ire they're something much more sinister."

Erlem couldn't hold back the tears but he was able to lift himself off the ground and begin fighting to compose himself. After a few moments he had himself under control, even though his stomach turned and his head had begun to spin Erlem forced himself to listen to the Daemon. He wanted this dream to end with him waking up in his little bed back in the gnob,

" Now that you know the castle isn't as it seems maybe that will aid in your escape. When I send you back into your body you will awaken the castle will be still. You must be out of the castle before dusk or i fear you will not make it another day."

"Direth hasn't harmed me or even risen his voice to me. Are you sure he is the evil in the castle?"

" I was in the corner of the room thrust onto a chair when he came for Daisy, With all her magic she wasn't able to even singe his robes. I heard her yelp as he grabbed her by the throat and i heard her scream as he drained her of her soul. Then the room went quiet and i heard her body hit the ground. They left her in that room to rot into bones Erlem, if it wasn't for the fact that im bound to an item I would have evaporated into nothingness."

Those words weighed on Erlems heart like stones across his chest. His mother was truly gone. Then he remembered the pin Daisy had made that would send him back to the gnob, " The pin! I could just use the pin!"

"i'm afraid not, this castle has some elvish enchantments that keep those within its walls from using such magic. You have to get outside its walls. you have to escape."

This was a real issue, Erlem hadn't even figure out how to leave his room let alone the castle. It was an ever changing maze, it didn't matter how many times he left his room the pathways and halls seemed to have no rhyme or reason. Some doors sent you back to where you came while others led to no where at all and all the halls were identical in every way as if they were direct clones of each other.

"My power is almost gone, drained from this last effort to save my masters son. Please escape Erlem and get to the citadel. Remember North through the swamps, stay off the titan tree road."

Erlem opened his eyes to find himself back in his room inside the castle. The sunlight shined through the stained glass windows, the light that could escape the confines of the curtains would create beautiful designs against the walls and floor. Birds chirped outside his window, they flew off the stonework out side his window as he pulled the rope that lifted the curtains out of the way allowing more of the sunlight to pass through and illuminate the room. The window changed the colors of the light as it passed but it still allowed for the whole room to fill up with the suns light.

Erlem began pacing around the room in his sleeping robes, his clothes had been confiscated earlier in the week and he had been provided with new clothes every day. The girls made sure to take all his laundry every night so Erlem was going to have to be in his robes when he made his daring escape. Erlem noticed his shoulder bag from that nights activities had been left behind so Erlem grabbed it and swung it over his shoulder. The robe was plush and made the bag feel clunky but it would be useful later he was sure.

He continued to pace around the room looking for any signs of enchantments or talismans that may be at work in the room, before long he started cruising the bookshelves in the room for perhaps a book that could help him exit the room. Erlem remembered the strange journal he had found before he left that night. He opened the desk drawer to find the little wax covered book resting where he left it.

He opened the book to where he had read earlier scimming the pages. The book was a journal of some sort that belonged to the Lord of this castle prior to Direths reign. He had been mentioned several times in the few pages he read and all the mentions questioned Direths motives.

On one Erlem read a passage that seemed interesting at best, the lord had called Direth " "The Jewelcrafter over seer" and his skills with fire opals were "unnatural".

The book mentioned one of the ancients and its offer to make him the Lord of Elves if he aligned with him. After that there was no more mention of Direth. There were no more entries in the journal as if the Lord had lost the book or died.

"fire opals?" Direth only spoke a bit about other opals but had omitted them entirely from their lesson last night. He began to look frantically around the shelves again, Erlem was rewarded a few moments later with a large leather bound book that had been underneath a pile of cookbooks in the corner.

It was an opal identification guide for opal mining. It gave descriptions of the different opals and their properties. He eventually found the section on fire opals.

" A bright red color bar, the fire opal is a rare opal only found in the mines of Blud'heim. Beautiful and powerful the jewelcrafter is able to produce stones that have powerful glamour magic."

"glamour magic." Erlem repeated as he continued to read, as he turned the page he found and illustration of what a fire opal would look like. Erlems eyes widened, he recognized the stone immediately as the ones the three elves wore on all their jewelry.

Erlem scanned the room and noticed there were red sparkling stones in the molding and woodwork. they were small and in the shadows they didn't stick out at all, but Erlem had the room full of light and was aware of them. The book didn't say how to stop the stones but Direth had while they were in the workshop. When they had begun handing each other their lucky stones Direth had said opals were fragile like glass and breaking one would end up with a useless opal.

Erlem created a ball of lightning in his hand and allowed the power to build. He aimed above him and released the lightning, the small stones were hit with the energy as lightning swam on the ceiling like eels hitting the stones and shattering them. They fell to the floor like a sparkling rain leaving tiny shards of red glass.

The room began to change, the beautiful wood began to look dirty and worn, some of the beams were splintered and frayed barely staying aloft. The stones were molded and ragged as well. Most of the furniture was not as clean and new as they once appeared as well. His four poster bed was more like a to poster bed with two broken posts remaining. His blankets were basically large rags, dirty and even had the smell of mildew.

These fire opals were indeed powerful magical items, they had tricked all of his senses not just his eyes. Erlem tip toed around the floor as to not step on any of the sharp shards of opal that now littered the floor. He stood in front of the door and just stared at it. it was still the brilliant red it had always been, even its door knob was still pristine.

Erlem fisted a ball of lightning and slung it against the door, the lightning acted like tentacles snapping across the door going in all directions popping and crackling. The red door faded and the real door shimmered through. Brown and ugly, the pain was cracking and the door had mold creeping along the bottom.

There were scorch marks and other various gashes on it as well, as if there had been a battle in the tower. Erlem pushed on the door to see if it were unlocked, and as usual it was not. Erlem pushed open the door to find more red shards on the floor and a larger stone the size of a dinner plate in pieces. This opal was not a fire opal but some other type that was enchanting the area, this was a black opal but its patterning was lost due to its shattering. Erlem stretched out his left hand towards the room and pulled the book of opals to it.

"this book will probably come in handy. it looks like they are using opals to enchant the hallways." Erlem had a new invigorated resolve, he was going to prove himself an Oakleaf today. For Daisy.

He loosed another ball of lightning down the hall, it hit the floor in front of him then sprung forward with a thousand bolts of lightning smacking the walls and ceiling and scorching the paintings and banners. More shards of red glass fell to the floor. Erlem had forgotten about being careful and had stepped on a few of the shards leaving shallow cuts on the souls of his feet.

Erlem had to cast a sell to give himself boots, the same spell he cast when he was with Daisy's daemon. He continued destroying the fire opals as he came to new stretches of hallways and just like in the bedroom before the hallways became worn and dusty, the armors were there but were rusted and falling apart, there were spider webs amassed in all the corners and on most of the armors. The hallways also made more sense. there were not doors in every hallway.

Erlem learned the halways created a giant square and only had four doors, one of which was his tower. There was no spindled stairway, there were only a few short steps. This magic was indeed powerful and it had tricked him. He was embarrassed but didn't have time to dwell on his mistakes right now he had to find his way out.

"I sure could use one of those lucky stones right about now" Erlem may have figured out how to beat the enchantment but he still had no clue how to navigate through this maze. There were three doors that were a mystery to him, the glamour had made each door look different everytime they used one so he was not sure which door he had used before.

It was a long after noon and Erlem knew his time would be up soon and he would have no chance of every leaving this place alive, he had to make a decision, he had to pick a door and hope it led to the main hall.