Magus’ Sword

By Preeti Seshadri

In Preeti’s first chapter from the fantasy fiction workshop, magic takes on a different form, and is full of danger and immediacy, the action already surrounded by a fiery sense of impending doom.

When the sky turns indigo,

And the ground turns grey,

Look for Magus’s rapier,

In the shadows, under the green, in another world.

Smoke, blue and purple will spread everywhere,

You will look for him and find the demon,

Stay the course,

And bring home the saviour.

Look for the path,

At the watering hole,

In the stones,

Next to the green knoll.

Shryo woke up with a start and immediately shut her eye again. This had now become a recurring dream. Or was it a nightmare? It had started the day before she left Mijmor, her home. It had only been a few days but how she missed home and her sister already. She hoped Dyobb was okay. A while ago, Dyobb had fallen ill and they could not figure out what was wrong with her. They had tried everything, but she stayed dull, tired all the time and barely moving. When nothing had worked, Shyro had decided to make her way to the Manjip. It is where she would find most of the Cedims or at least a salve for Dyobb.

She opened her eye again and groaned. Shyro hated late mornings. She always had too many things to do by the time she got up and the bright orange light irritated her large single eye in the middle of her head. She could wake up earlier when the orange was milder but never managed to, and it was always too bright by the time she was up. Stretching out all her wiry long limbs, she shook herself and decided today was a day for constant movement. She perked up her sphinx-like ears, looked around to see if there was any one near her. In the far distance there were wisps of grey, but she doubted that it was dust from movement. The ground would have shaken a little then. She had not seen another living creature for a while now. Shyro was curious by nature but she had yet to find out why that had happened and what had gone wrong.

With a sigh, she got up and started her day at a steady pace.

Trotting along, headed West, Shyro could see a shape in the distance to her right, against the hues of orange. The wisps of dark grey were huge and in a shape she had never seen before. It was as if something has sprouted and grown into a huge mass from the ground. Eager to find out what it was, she turned and started running towards. As she got closer, Shryo could see that the ground she was running on had become cold, hard grey stone in many parts instead of the soft black and orange soil she was used to. The brown base of the form was solid and unmoving in the distance but what she could not take her eye away from was the portion above the base. From the base, whatever this thing was, had grown parts that were extending into the distance and tapering into different widths and lengths. It was growing and moving in all directions. It was a riot of warm, life-affirming colours, growing all around her and, yet, it sent a chill down her spine to see it. White bits were stuck to its ends in different shapes and when the wind whistled, some fell to the ground. With each fallen bit, the ground sent a few gentle tremors as it changed from soil to stone. This thing had grown so much, she realised it would take her a while to even just reach its solid brown base.

A long while later Shyro was finally at the base. Staring at it, she was not sure how much of her day was already lost but she could not take her eye off it — watching this form expand, mesmerised by the colours, shapes and movement. And, suddenly, out of the orange red sky above, Shyro could see something colourful falling into this form rapidly, outlined by dark grey wisps of air. Shyro bounded forward thinking it would fall to the ground and she could catch it before it did, but it did not. It stopped midway and sat on the growing form without falling off. Shyro stared at the small creature noting the two black and blue wings, green eyes, beautiful red beak, and blue crown like tuft on its head. It sat on a growing part of the new form. Without any warning, Shyro could hear a soft sing song voice inside her head, “Why are you sitting and watching this tree grow?” Shyro moved around in a circle frantically, trying to find the source of the voice. And the voice said, “You can look up at me on the branch right above you on the tree, but I can read your thoughts and it’s my voice inside your head.” When Shyro wondered what a tree or a branch was, the voice replied, “This entire form you’ve been staring at is called a tree and these arms you can see growing from it are the branches. I am TouTou. I am what we call a bird, and I make my home in trees like these. Along with many others.” When Shyro wondered where TouTou is from, the bird replied and said, “A world far away, outside this one. You do know there are worlds other than yours, right?” Shyro had not, but now she did. The sing song voice continued, “When this tree appears and starts to grow, it is time for creatures in this world to adapt, die or move to other worlds. This tree will keep you mesmerised as it grows and grows, till it occupies all the space in your world. Birds of my flock are harbingers of warnings for creatures of the worlds where the tree appears. Once it stops growing, creatures from our world will start to arrive, to make their home in and around it. They will kill if they have to, to make sure they occupy this one.”

TouTou suddenly rose into the air, flipped around a few times, and sat down on the branch again. “Can I tell you a secret?” she asked Shyro. Without pausing, she said, “I met a flock of bird-like creatures when I first arrived. Beautiful red creatures with long necks, broad wings with shades of orange and white on them. You must know those. I was tired of only bringing bad news so when I saw them, I lied and said this tree will spread colour and joy for creatures of this world and will keep them safe from creatures outside this world. They heard me and flew westward. I never saw them again but I’m sure they know the truth by now.”

Shyro knew which creatures they were. They were the protectors. A collective of soldiers in her world called the Patreons that flew in groups to guard all creatures in this world, from warring or even external harm. The leader carried a dagger. When tilted, the orange light hit it at a particular angle, and it gleamed like a diamond. Dark air, almost black, poured out of it at the fused line where metal met hilt and surrounded the collective, shrouding them even as they moved, so they were difficult to see; the shape of the air amorphous and not as a body outline, almost dancing and moving like a living being. This allowed them to separate warring creatures or hide the meek ones from predators, all peacefully without harming anyone themselves.

And Shyro realised she had not seen one in a while. Not since she left home, which was so very rare. Different groups of Patreons were constantly moving from place to place to make sure everyone was safe. Not seeing one meant something was wrong. Very wrong. How had she not noticed this before? TouTou, listening to Shyro’s thoughts started to say something but Shyro bounded off to the South-West, without waiting for whatever the voice in her head was going to say.

Preeti Seshadri has spent almost twenty years working for large and small companies, loves to travel and has been trying her hand at pottery for the last couple of years. She is currently based in Bangalore. Read Preeti’s other story from the ‘Rain in my Sky’ workshop here: https://medium.com/wordy-tales/bird-with-a-broken-wing-d80eb7b797b9