Mark of the Fool
Chapter 661: Fifth

While contemplating his rapid descent into old age, Alex walked downstairs, on his way to the Cells.

All around, first year students scurried about, searching for Cells they’d been assignedto for first semester lab work.

‘By the Traveller, I still can’t believe how young they look,’ he thought, shaking his head as he reached the administration desk at the bottom of the building.

Waving to the administrator sitting there, he greeted her. “Hi there, would I be able to use one of the summoning Cells please?”

“Ah yes, Mr. Roth, welcome back,” said the administrator. “How long will you need the Cell for?”

Alex raised an eyebrow. "I’m sorry, have we met?”

“Not officially,” she said, drawing a schedule from her desk. “But, I did see you compete at the Games of Roal, but more importantly, your bakery has been responsible for destroying my waistline.” She laughed easily, patting her stomach.

“Oh, uh, sorry?” Alex offered.

“Don’t be, it was worth it,” she said, looking down at the schedule. “Would Cell 314 work for you?”

“Absolutely,” Alex said. “I’ve got my student card to unlock the door right here in my bag.”

“Good, oh, and I just wanted to thank you for everything you did last year, it won’t be forgotten.”

“Pardon?” he said.

“My younger brother competed in last year's Games,” she explained. “If it wasn’t for you brave people on the beach, he would have died; he’s no combat mage, he just entered for fun. So, thank you, Mr. Roth. You kept our family from suffering a loss like so many others did that day.”

“We all did what we had to do, but thank you for your kind words. Hearing them means a lot; I’ll be sure to pass them along to my friends. What’s your name?” he asked.

“Carmen.”

“Well, I’ll tell them, Carmen, and thanks again.”

He gave her a little wave as he teleported back to the stairs, and up to Cell 314.

Alex swiped his card above the door lock and entered the room. He locked the door behind him and dropped his satchel on the floor near a desk. Time to get to work. The aeld staff gave off little waves of curiosity as he leaned it against a wall and took a pair of spell-guides from his bag.

“Wondering what I’m doing?” He said to the staff. “Well, I’ll be trying to summon more companions like Bubbles and our foxy friend. Sometime soon, we’ll be heading to a landthat could be pretty dangerous, especially since we’ll be far away from everyone we know, except for Claygon.”

Alex summoned Bubbles. “We don’t want to risk getting caught there by something nasty without any backup.”

The aeld staff gave off another wave of curiosity before its attention turned to Bubbles who was, well, bubbling at it.

Smiling, Alex went to the summoning circle in the centre of the room and laid the two spell-guides before him. The first one contained a fifth-tier summoning spell that conjured an evil spirit called a hellchainer—a monstrous creature that drew energy from pain, pleasure and mania. Creatures like those were favourites of evil wizards, and they’d use them to interrogate and torture their enemies.

The problem was that they tended to delight more in the suffering itself, than in actually extractingany practical information from their victims.

Of course, Alex had no interest in torturing people…probably.

‘Truth is, if I got my hands on that First Apostle, I don’t think letting a hellchainer have a few hours alone with him would be such a bad idea,’ the young wizard thought. ‘But, I’d be more summoning one of them for the challenge, than anything else—they’re tricky spirits to call. Option two’s even more challenging though, but less…dangerous.”

Alex looked at the second spell-guide in front of him, one meant to summon an Astlanti celestial.

According to the books on lore, they were a prideful celestial race that wielded great magical might, and only worked with the most driven of mages. Legends even said that they were once a race of mortals who escaped some long ago catastrophe by ascending to a higher plane.

Of course, the Astlanti refused to answer questions about their peoples’ past, and no history book ever recorded any kingdom of a similar name that once existed.

After what he’d learned from Baelin about other planets, Alex was convinced they were from another world altogether.

“I wonder if I’ll find out.” He cracked his knuckles, picking up the hellchainer spell-guide. “But let’s deal with the evil one first.”

Alex looked over the spell-array carefully; it was an intimidating thing, requiring five conjoined magic circuits all functioning in tandem.

“I can see why most wizards never reach fifth-tier,” he murmured, admiring the diagram. “I assumed this would be a challenge; it seems I was right.” He touched his midriff. “My mana pool should be more than big enough to contain the magic circuitry, now it’s just a matter of not making any mistakes. At fifth-tier, if I screw up the summoning, I’ll conjure something awful.”

His mind ran free for a while, imagining some tentacled horror breaking out of the protective circle in the centre of the floor—dragging him, Bubbles and his staff into eternal doom—he shuddered, quickly shaking away the image.

He’d been doing this long enough to avoid catastrophes…he hoped.

Alex studied the spell array carefully, making note of individual parts of the magic circuitry that were familiar to him, then nodded, satisfied. He conjured a Wizard’s Hand.

The Mark’s interference hit hard, shaking him to the core as he fought to guide himself through it, frustration quickly rising.As the crimson Hand appeared, Alex frowned, remembering the Mark of the General in Uldar’s sanctum.

“If that Mark is just the Fool but without the interference, I’m going to be so damned mad,” he scowled. “And since that’s probably what it is? I’m already mad just thinking about it. Here I am, about to try casting a fifth-tier spell and I still have to wrestle with the Mark of the Fool just to conjure some first-tier Wizard’s Hand spell.”

He thought about what had happened when he’d relieved the First Apostle of his arm. He’d ended up on the ground, helpless, hammered and punished by a Mark from a dead god. Punished for wanting to avenge his friend. For wanting to save his other friends.

For wanting to stand against a monster.

Alex’s jaw clenched and unclenched as a surge of anger dropped on him with a weight it hadn’t in a long time, not since his early struggles with the Mark in Ram’s force magic class.

He took some deep breaths, making himself calm down, using his grounding techniques, letting go of his rage with each breath.

“If only I could change this Mark right now,” he whispered, returning his focus to the spell array.

There was nothing to be done about that right now.

For the time being, he’d work and prepare for the day he could change it.

And for the next half hour, he studied the spell in minute detail, tracing diagrams he’d made of the array, using the Mark, correcting even the slightest mistake he’d made in his drawings. Then, he said each syllable of the incantation aloud, sounding them out, making sure his pronunciation was flawless.

When it was time to make notes, he flipped open his notebook and began:

Summon Hellchainer. 1st attempt. Progress:

The level of progress was left blank for now as he began spell casting, at the same time, calling on the Traveller’s power.

This spell was a new one, but at this point, he’d had a lot of experience with fourth-tier summoning magic; his goal was ambitious, he was hoping to have 30% of the spell array mastered by the time he finished practising for the day.

Alex closed his eyes, feeling the Traveller’s power as he slowly spoke the incantation. It joined with his mana, pushing against the Mark’s interference.

He felt the conjoined magic circuit manifesting, unfolding like a bloom and as he began losing himself, caught between the roaring seas that were the Mark of the Fool, and the power of the Traveller. One tried to steer him off course, dragging him down. The other held him gently like a ray of sunlight,guiding him through the spell, keeping him on track.

He let both flow, focusing on saying those precious syllables precisely.

A circuit formed.

Then another.

Then a third.

A fourth.

Before he realised what was happening, the Traveller’s power was guiding his mana into a fifth circuit that linked with the others. The entire spell flared to life.

Alex’s eyes flew wide as he felt a connection form with the lower planes.

The groan of chains, the sound of screams, and of dripping liquid seemed to echo through his ears as something otherwordly was pulled across the planes.

Air shimmered within the summoning circle.

Chains clinked.

Space tore apart.

And something humanoid—short and gaunt—stepped through, appearing in the material world. It might have chilled the blood of even the bravest soul, with its six fingers, two pairs of elbow and knee joints, and spear-shaped ears. The creature was a thing of nightmares; yet, it almost looked human.

Almost human.

Piercing its pale grey flesh were scores of hooks, iron rings and long nails. Spiked chains wrapped its entire body in an unnerving parody of a robe, wound tightly enough to squeeze every angle on its emaciated form.

A dark fluid ran from the corners of lips that snarled in what seemed a hideous grin.

Its eyes were stitched shut, but it faced Alex, seeming to watch him nonetheless.

An aura of palpable pain and menace surrounded the hellchainer.

“We have such sights to show you,” the creature croaked suddenly, its voice gurgling.

The aeld staff gave off waves of terror.

Bubbles bubbled in fright.

And Alex’s jaw dropped, his mind whirling.

He’d hit fifth-tier.

On his first try with a new spell.

It was stunning.

Numbly, he wrote a number in the notebook:

Summon Hellchainer. 1st attempt. Progress: 100%.

“What agonies do you wish for me to bestow, oh pained one?” the creature gurgled. “This one desires flesh.”

“Not right now. I wished to simply greet you,” Alex said carefully, using the Mark to alter his voice. He made it higher. Cold. Infused with a note of indifference, sounding every inch the cruel wizard ready to unleash his demon armies on the unsuspecting.

“In the future, there will be much pain for us to inflict,” Alex said, thinking of the hidden church of Uldar. “For now, though. A gift.”

With that, Alex looked at Bubbles. “Could you do me a favour…” He paused, eyeing the innocent water elemental, then grabbed his staff. “On second thought, never mind.”

Raising the nervous aeld branch high, he conjured a hellhound near the summoning circle.

The hound appeared, panting brimstone as it looked up at Alex, recognising him.

“Could you do me a favour and bite him please?” The young wizard raised his chin toward the hellchainer. “There. On his leg, where there aren’t any nails or spikes sticking out.”

The hound cocked his head momentarily before bounding to the hellchainer and clamping its jaws on its flesh.

Writhing in ecstasy, the evil spirit released an unsavoury moan. “Yessss, sweet pain! A reward, but no labour. Master is kind.”

“Master is also cruel,” Alex said. “I will call you again.”

“Goood, this one will be waiting…” the monster moaned.

With a shudder, Alex dismissed both the hellchainer and the hellhound.

Bubbles burbled nervously.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be summoning that thing too often,” Alex leaned the staff against the wall then took a look at the second spell-guide.

“Was that a fluke, I wonder? Only one way to find out…”

For another half hour, he studied the spell-guide for Summon Astlanti Celestial before trying the spell.

Again the Mark interfered.

Again the Traveller’s power helped him.

And again, he completed the spell on his first try.

A tall, imperious looking male—with skin like shining pearl—stood before him, dressed in robes of flowing mist. He stared at Alex with clear, grey eyes.

“I see thee, sorcerer, as one who wields great power. Thou art wise to summon me, though thou shall need to prove thyself,” the celestial’s voice echoed. “Art thou worthy?”

“I am,” Alex said, his voice ringing with confidence. Arrogance, even. “You will serve me because I possess power grand enough to stand beside you as a fellow master of arcane might.”

“And how shall you prove this to me?” the celestial asked.

Alex swallowed. Cold sweat rose on his skin as his mind tried piecing together what was happening.

‘Okay, the Traveller's power…I’ve been using it,’ he thought. ‘As it grows stronger in me, it’s offering me more support for summoning spells. Which means… It’s time to get greedy.’

Alex looked into the Astlanti’s eyes. “I will prove it by showing you that I can call one greater than you. I will show you by conjuring you again and—right in front of your eyes—I will show you the kind of magic that will surprise even you.”

The Astlanti smiled. “I look forward to it.”

“Until then,” Alex dismissed the celestial.

He looked at Bubbles. “Guard my things for a minute, Bubbles.”

The water elemental gurgled in reply, moving beside Alex’s bag.

Then, teleporting out of the Cell and up to the halfway in front of Professor Mangal’s office, the young wizard rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

“Alright, Roth,” he said to himself. “Time to push your luck.”

He knocked on the door.