Between Armageddon & a Hard Place Pt. 02

Damien had to clean the mess up, at least the mess that the Wizard Council would not. He was impressed by Sam's shape changing at will, especially since he could remember when it took a lot out of her to do it so quickly about 500 years ago. He was amused that she would take a demon form though, especially with what she could do alone without the need of body transformation. The wings, tail and claws were tasteful at least, he wondered if she would use that form on him one time for old time sake in bed. Damien shook his head, if she lives though what seems to be coming it will be a tempting suggestion, but even he doubted Sam's abilities to survive, especially if she were to stop Armageddon completely.

Chapter 5: The Wizard Council

The Arch-Chancellor of the Wizard Council reappeared in his study, he knew dammed well that Damien couldn't contain the situation or Sam, but it was the best that he could do for now in the circumstances, and it angered him to feel for all intended purposes helpless. Meldrich, or if that is what he goes by now, what was to of died around two centuries from now, even Meldrich knew that, but for some reason things changed, and now everything was on a truncated time table, which was far from the point he wanted to be at right now.

Meldrich was stronger than he was ever meant to be, hell's power structure had been usurped, a new one was put in it's place and now the council has to get involved, especially since Sam wasn't powerful enough to take on the responsibilities that were meant to be given to her when Meldrich changed to what she was without her knowledge.

The Council approved of the change of a mortal to a guardian, but something went wrong, the council still doesn't know what happened, but Sam is now a creature melded with the magics of both worlds, and she has no clue how to use even an inkling of what she has in her possession. Meldrich was to be her tutor, but fear gripped him by what happened and fled from his responsibility. The Council and Sam for two different reasons were after the same man. The council inwardly prayed they got to Meldrich before she did.

The Arch-Chancellor sat heavily at his desk and opened a grimoire that had no title but belonged to one of the most powerful wizards in several knows worlds. He delved deeper into both the Arcane and nature magics, but the author also mentioned in passing a few times another branch of magic, which the author didn't get into because in the author's view it was too dangerous and unpredictable. It was called Chaos Magic.

Unlike Arcane and Nature magic, Chaos magic didn't have to follow the laws of magic to make something happen. In theory Chaos magic could make a grain of san into a diamond, or a mountain, but controlling such magic is not only dangerous but potentially lethal to the caster, for the change of backfiring into the face of the caster could be potentially devastating to the surrounding area.

The more the Arch-Chancellor thought about it the more he thought that Chaos Magic was involved either voluntarily or by complete accident, it was used or invoked into the spell that transformed Sam originally, but he had no proof and wouldn't ask Sam for help now to sate his curiosity. There was a good reason for this too, Sam didn't trust wizards, especially after what happened to her. The Arch-Chancellor sighed in resignation as all ideas that were open to him were found shut.

Just as the Arch-Chancellor was going to resign to the lounge for a mental rest there was a knock at the door. "Come in." Said the Arch-Chancellor. One of the senior wizards which went by the name of Brian Wildfire was seen opening the door and asked, "So Thomas, did you see your brother?" The Arch-Chancellor shook his head no. "Well it is time for our meeting, lets get going." Said Brian. Thomas nodded and got up from his chair and looked at Brian.

Brian Wildfire was the type of person you would expect to find sitting at the mall in a Santa suit having children tell him what they wanted for Christmas. He was the type of man that you would expect nothing serious could ever happen to because he was a happy go lucky guy with no enemies. As Thomas has found out though that is far from the truth, Brian was semi-immortal, and through this pseudo immortality at least for limited times Brian has had some very destructive and dangerous enemies.

Though the experience of time, Thomas realized that the simplest of things could be dangerous if underestimated, and Brian was no exception to the rule, his ability with magic, and hand-to-hand combat when he was thinner was nearly unbeatable, now he has the jolly old paunch happening, his magic is what he uses to keep enemies at bay, and quite successfully Thomas might add as well.

Then Thomas inspected the mirror and saw his own reflection. Thomas stood up straight and inspected himself, his hair full and brown was pulled back into a ponytail by a leather strap, his beard was also brown, but it went a few inches past his neck. He kept it trim so it wouldn't get in his way, he refused to wear the stereotypical wizard's hat instead he had the staff, it was a red wood staff, possibly made out of dragon heart wood. It was adorned with symbols, but mainly it was for show, it was nothing more than a walking stick to Thomas. His face was drawn a little, probably from the lack of sleep, the rest of his body was like his face though, thin and drawn out, as if he were stretched. His body didn't really complement his voice, was somewhat deep, but commanding all the same. He sighed as he looked from the mirror because he knew that although he looked young, it didn't make life any easier.

Thomas hated these meetings, it was one of the few things he hated about the job itself, for getting with other wizards that have their own views and opinions of the world and how things should be, and getting nothing done in the process annoyed Thomas, since the Council was meant to be an entity to take care of any situation that may occur and threaten either the magical world, or the world of the mortals. As Thomas walked down the hallway, he realized how many things have changed since he first started training as a wizard. He looked and realized that although he was mortal eyes, immortality made him cynical. For, what once would be considered the world ever-changing it really hasn't. Sure in each millennium that had passed he noticed that history, no matter how much the present at the time re-learned about the past, humanity never really learned enough to protect it from the mistakes it made prior. As a modern day youthism that he had heard, although vulgar, it was accurate, "Same shit different pile." Which in his mind was true, weapons changed, but the present never learned from the past fast enough to escape entropy.

That last true superpower before this age was Rome, which like this era did not learn from its predecessors. Sure people could argue that France, Germany, and even England was a superpower in their time, but none really lasted the length of time Rome did. Before then was Thomas' world, a city, and empire that were created well before Rome, and lasted nearly twice as long. The only remains were just being discovered off Japan back in 2006-2007. His life sank beneath the waves, it befell the same as all after it, entropy through corruption.

Similar to Sam, Thomas had changed guises as life passed him by. His last noted reincarnation was Merlin, history got it wrong though, he didn't life backwards, he was old enough by then to realize that life had a cycle and through observations realized when key players would or could be influenced to induce change. All actually was going well during that lifetime except another immortal interfered, and caused the fall of another great power through corruption. Thomas hoped this time he could stop it from happening again, this time he hoped to save the world, but if things don't start going well soon the world through every fault of its own would see another dark age, and this time Thomas didn't know whether the world could survive it.

Thomas came to the council chambers and opened the door. The room outwardly was nothing amazing, it was about forty feet long and nearly as wide, it was light by candles and some old lanterns, giving the room a dark and foreboding look. The table was the original table that the original council used when Thomas was young, the table is now so old that it has nearly fossilized, even if someone wanted to nail a hammer into it, they would have to drill with similar to a concrete bit to even dent the wood now. Old wizard portraits hung around the room with names and dates transcribed into the brass or gold under each one. Their staffs and hats were next to each picture if one were available. There was powerful magic in this room, the runes in the room were quiet today, but they were there ready to do their job if required. He saw the usual faces, but realized the council had been diminishing in power for quite some time, and it also looks as if another seat is empty. "So what happened?" Asked Thomas.

"Nothing more or less than your brother." Said a raspy and hollow voice as Thomas realized that William Small was the one speaking. Both William and Thomas had a history, which neither spoke of openly, but everyone knew the hatred for there was there, and it ran deeper than most could phantom. Thomas waved his hand in attempting to dismiss the subject of another wizard that was killed by his brother again, but William would not hear of it and slammed his fist down upon the old wooden table.

Thomas realized when looking at the frail old man named William that looked as if you sneezed to hard in his general direction he'd fall apart that although he, Thomas had found immortality through spells, some of not all the wizards there had not, and although many as William found a way to extend their short lives, they couldn't as of yet stop their own deaths. It would be a matter of time before William was dead and replaced again, just as William did about a hundred years ago.

Thomas sighed, "Yes William?"

"Don't yes me Thomas! Your brother has killed another council member. How many is that now? I am sure you keep track." Said William in as much as a lethal voice as his worn and hollow sounding voice box would allow.

"He has killed forty-two wizards stupid enough to face him this century, he has killed in self-defense four hundred wizards, and has killed in first stroke only fifty now..." Said Thomas.

William interrupted waving his arms in the air in exasperation, "Now nothing, we have been patient Thomas your brother has hilled in his glorious career over five hundred wizards. I don't care how or why, but he needs to be stopped, so what are you, or we as a council going to do about it?"

"Nothing." Said Thomas. The entire council looked at Thomas as if he has lost his mind. Thomas raised his hand as it looked as if everyone were to chorus their complaint simultaneously towards him. "Nothing." Said Thomas again. He took a long and steadying breath and continued, "The council as a whole is neither young our powerful enough to take on my brother. I am, but the rest of you would be a liability." Thomas knew that the council had no leg to stand on, but they would try.

Brian was the only other immortal-like person on the council, but even with his pseudo-immortality like ability it would be a far cry to say he would be able to stop Meldrich. He could last possibly a few minutes against either Meldrich or himself, but that would be all...for Brian although powerful was not impervious to death, and Meldrich played dirty.

Brian was alive during the time Sam was created or transformed into what she was now, and was probably Thomas' only real confidant, so through life, and experience they tended to see eye to eye about many things, especially since experience was a cruel teacher, and who better to have a friend to keep you grounded through the millennia than someone who is practically immortal.

The council as Thomas expected erupted into a din of noise that even Thomas couldn't tolerate, "Enough!" Yelled Thomas. Although he was expecting this, it didn't mean he had to tolerate the volume or discord that the council was producing. The council quieted down as Thomas looked over it with disgust.

"Don't you realize that none of you, even in your prime could deal with a wizard that has in the past successfully used Chaos Magic? The reason nothing has been done was that the one that was to become the next guardian isn't ready for her duties. Unthankfully my brother's mistake made sure that was possibly never going to happen, and it really doesn't look as if it will in the near future. Even heaven won't get involved which may be a boon for us." Said Thomas with a well practiced steady tone.

William with undisguised disgust in his aged voice said, "You mean that succubae slut wannabe...what's her name now? Ah yes, Sam. What is she going to do? Fuck your brother to death? He is obviously immortal too, so we know that isn't going to work."

Thomas said, "No, but you know there can only one guardian a..."

William interrupted irritably, "And that even the process was screwed up with Chaos Magic, she is the only one and the mantel of guardian can't be passed till she dies which as it sounds, and looks through how she lives, may be never. How are we to stop your brother when the only one that may have the ability to do so is shirking her duties and slutting her way though infinity?"

"That problem had been discussed though older and more powerful council member than yourself William. The only way to make her help us would be by asking, then having her catch up on nearly two thousand years of training. I would have no problem asking her, but she has a knack of recognizing wizards, just as the guardian should. Not to mention her past experience with our kind really isn't that good either. So instead of blaming me for this, I shall put the question to you, how do you propose to make it possible? If you break her mind or spirit those things that would make her an effective guardian would be lost forever, and she wouldn't lat ten seconds against our weakest wizards, let alone my brother. "

The council became silent, not because they knew Thomas was right, but because no one ever seemed to think that far ahead, at least when it came to things beyond their control. The average wizard council member never worries about those things for the council's concept of dealing with problematic issues was break it, mend it, and use it. Which is why Thomas hated these meetings, for as educated as the council was compared to everything else that humanity used to negotiate with, it still failed to get beyond the general flaws of humanity.

"What if we used a doppelganger to earn her trust? Have it be a younger form of us, but none of our magical power? Make it take direct orders from us but have it could make decisions, on its own as long as they don't interfere with our greater plan so it would never exceed out control?" Asked one of the younger council members by the name of Daniel Underwood. He was smart but still naïve in the ways of the council and its inner workings. Daniel always attempted to find the hopeful ray of light in every dark cloud. Thomas wished more were like him, or at least stayed like him as they got older.

"As much as I'd like to say that idea has been done before it hasn't. The reason is that Sam could tell in a way what a person is thinking, and any thought of the sort to fool her would be known the second they were left unguarded. Said Thomas reluctantly."

Although it did give him an idea, but it would be to be planned right to work at all.

"We will break for an hour, then debate about a replacement for the lost member. Samuel, I need to see you in my quarters please." Said Thomas as he got up from his chair.

The rest of the council minus Samuel and Thomas didn't get up from their chairs and watched the two elder wizards leave. As Samuel closed the door behind them he heard the council bellow in argument. Samuel smirked as they walked away from the din the wizard council was producing, "You like doing that don't you? Pissing them off and then leaving to let them stew."

Thomas grunted and said to Samuel as he opened the door to his study chambers, "I have an idea."

~To Be Continued~