The Warlock Chronicles: Sorrow
This is Part 1 of the Alexia Fairmont Saga.
Alexia was born to an elven mother and human father. She and her twin brother, Xandron, were born out of wedlock. Her mother, Lieren, was a commoner, a wood-elf from the village Thornrest. It was a small village, mostly wood elves, but there were a few halflings and humans. There was even a dwarf in the village, but he was the town blacksmith.
Lex and Xan's father, Warren, was a traveling salesman. Her mother had been smitten, and one thing led to another... The traveling salesman left not knowing he was the father of twins. Their mother raised them on her own. Warren never visited the village again, never knowing he had children. Lieren was a bartender at the local pub, the Rusty Spoon, so the twins were often seen running around playing games in between the tables on the pub floor.
As the twins got older, they could be found with the local hunters, learning how to shoot a bow or skin a rabbit. While Lex was good at shooting a bow, she would much rather be learning the ways of magic. There weren't many books on magic in Thornrest. However, the ones she could get her hands on, whether it be from traveling caravans or from the town’s seamstress, she devoured them!
As she learned little bits of magic, she noticed that she could see lesser Fae or Daemons. She learned that if she drew the right symbols, she could summon one to do her bidding, well, small tasks. Only Xandron knew what she was up to, but no one else. Xan encouraged her to keep going with it but to be careful.
The family lived in the attic loft in the pub, and the twins were often left to their own devices while their mother worked. Lex was careful to not do big summons when she was in their loft.
If only she had refrained from doing it this one time….
On a rainy afternoon, Alexia and Xandron had just finished helping their mom clean up the pub's common area. It was an easy way for them to make some copper. After cleaning the scum from the floor, they went to the baths to clean and then upstairs to relax. Their mother went out to get some ingredients for dinner. This meant one thing.
Time to practice a summoning!
Lex had a box stashed under her bed with the different items for summoning. Flowers picked from the forest, certain stones and crystals from Lansom's Mine, which many from the village worked in, a feather from a harpy that Xandron had helped the hunters take down, and a jar of salt. Her mother didn't know anything about the box, but Xandron did.
She tried to not practice her summonings around anyone. One because she knew the reputation magic users had in their village. And two because she knew how dangerous it was. And let's be real, Lex really didn't know what she was doing. She was just imitating what she read from the few books she had.
It had been a while since she had had a chance to practice summoning. As Lex and Xan had finally reached young adolescence, they both had been kneedeep in their apprenticeships. Xan was working hard to join the Hunter's Guild by working under the leader of the archer squad, Vanbryn. Lex was working with the seamstress. Lex had been fascinated with how Evesla could make such fabulous gowns for the Lord of their territory.
While spending her days accidentally stabbing her fingers wasn't her passion, she was getting tips from Evesla. She was secretly a wizard who used her magic on items of clothing for those who asked. Lex was sworn to tell no one, not even Xandron. Lex never disclosed what she was doing with her summonings, she just took in what Evesla did when she was under her tutelage. With the twins spending so much time with their masters, they didn't have much time for anything else.
After their time at the baths, Xan decided to go lay down while Lex grabbed her box and went into the other room. She drew the symbols on the floor, and placed the feather, crystal, lightning bark, and charcoal ash in the correct spots. Hovering her hands over the symbols she started to chant as she pricked her finger. As the blood hit the symbols, it lit up with fire, and so did the salt circle where the summoned daemon would appear.
During her final chant, a sudden burst of fire surrounding the salt circle knocked her prone. What Lex was supposed to summon was Tonnemor, a lesser daemon with black horns that could easily be ordered around. He did tend to go invisible and play pranks on other beings, but that was not the creature that showed itself in the fiery circle.
Appearing in the summoning circle was a towering purplish-red demon with spiral purple horns, complete blacked out eyes, claws sharp as his knives, and a long spiny tail. Some daemons were quadrupeds, but this one was a biped. It had a strong muscular body that could easily crush someone like Lex. It looked around and then laid its eyes on two things. The first being Lex. The second was the break in the fiery salt circle that occurred when Lex had been blasted on her butt.
What occured next, happened in a flash.
Alexia jumped up, pointing a finger at the daemon, commanding him to banish back where he came from. But the stammer in her voice showed how scared she was because the only thing that happened was a roaring chuckle escaping the lips of the daemon.
As the daemon stepped forward, he backhanded Lex into a wall knocking her out cold.. The last thing she saw before the lights went out was an arrow flying into the daemon’s shoulder. What Lex didn't see was where it came from.
Xandron lowered his crossbow to reload it for a second shot. But in a moment the daemon was on him, slashing the crossbow out of his hand, and grabbing Xan by the throat with the other claw. The daemon laughed maniacally as it tightened its grip as the young half-elf clawed at his arm, gasping for air.
With one crack, the light in the boy's eyes went out. The daemon tossed his limp body on the floor with a roar. Pulling his claws to his chest, the same composition of flames leaped from his hands to other surfaces around the room, lighting the loft on fire. Bursting a hole in the wall, the daemon exited their home raging havoc onto the village, setting most of it on fire.
Alexia woke to the shaking motion of her body, commanding her to wake. The hazel eyes of the human wizard Evesla pulled her to her feet. Looking around her, most of the loft was on fire, as beams crashed around them. On the floor not far from her was the lifeless body of her twin. Blood trickled down the corner of his mouth, his eyes wide open with a haunting look. A scream escaped her lips.
She tried to run to him but Evesla grabbed her, "He's gone Alexia, you must save yourself, child." But she wasn't going to leave her brother to be burned in this fire. With all the strength she could muster, Alexia fought out of Evesla's grasp and reached Xandron, dragging him towards the stairs. The smoke from the fire choked her lungs. She wasn’t going to make it before the roof collapsed.
A second set of hands grabbed the other arm of her brother. Looking over, Evesla was hoisting Xandron's corpse on her shoulder, helping Alexia pull him from the burning building. As they shouldered through a blocked door to the outside, the roof collapsed into what was their loft.
Looking out onto the village was looking at chaos. While the daemon looked to be nowhere in site, screams could be heard as villagers rushed to put out the vast fires all across the town.
When it was all over, eight people had lost their lives, either directly by the hands of the rogue daemon, or by the fires it caused. Even though Evesla tried to convince the Council that Alexia didn't mean to release the daemon on the town, she was still held responsible. But no one was harder on Lex than herself.
She was devastated that her actions had caused the death of Xandron; her twin; her best friend. Her mother professed that no matter what she would never forgive Alexia for what she had done. The Council decided to banish Lex from the town. Only Evesla was kind enough to give her a bag with some food and a change of clothes. But what was also in the bag was a summoners starter kit. "Don't stop with your studies," Evesla said when she saw the pain on Lex's face. "I know you are hurting right now, but you've got a real talent. By quitting now, your brother's death will be in vane."
And with that, Alexia left her town, lost, wandering in no direction.
Thanks for checking out this first chapter of the Warlock Chronicles. Check back in later to see how Alexia survives on her own.