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An aged magician sits in a small library somewhere on the vast continent. He strokes his long silver beard with his hand as he sits in silent contemplation.

An old mage once part of a great empire's army he now sits in his own library exploring magical realms and dimensions.

He walks along the crowded isles with magestic grace and plucks an old map from the shelf. Taking it back to his small oval desk he unfurls the small scroll.

He studies the crumbling paper awhile and gets up once more, this time taking an ancient tome of legends and placing it on the desk.

Carefully opening this book he reads of the gods and creatures and all the legends of a now forgotten land. Finally he closes the book and looks at the map again. A small smiles emerges from his tangled beard and he walks up the stairs, slowly in deep thought.

He enters a small room lined again with books, he studies them all for awhile before choosing a small red book bound with gold. Reading through this book his smiles gradually changes to a frown. He steps back placing the book back in his place, he walks into another room dominated by a spherical crystal.

Peering into this crystal he mutters a few short words and a face appears in the crystal.

"Ebraucus" he croaks at the face.
"Yes?" it replies.
"Tell me of the legends of old"
"Certainly." it replies.

The face then tells of a small island of legend where many dangerous beasts still roam and fanatics attempt to bring back banished gods.

After an hour or so the image ceases talking and the old mage waves his hand over the crystal wiping the image away.

He then chants some differnt worlds and stares long into the crystal, the crystal takes him to a small island, with a small town of the name 'Trolls Bane' scouring the land the mage lets out a grunt. He lifts his head and climbs another set of stairs.

Standing at the top of his small tower he begins to weave spells all around him, the rooftop begins to glow and the bustling market below stops to look at the sight, an orb of magical energy forms around him, stands still and collapses into nothing. Just heard over the buzz of magical energy the words "I have found my new adventure" can barely be heard.

And with a final crackle of energy the glow fades, Mempriclus is coming to Trolls Bane.

As Elaralith is walking in the woods, she senses some great magical working, and wonders...
"What can it be?"
After some contemplation she comes to a conclusion..
"Ah, the opening of a magical portal..."
Wondering who may have arrived, Elaralith continues her walk.

Days of Old.

Ever since young Mempriclus had a flare for magic, he would scare the other children away with bolts of fire at the age of six.

His parents managed to scrape together the money needed to send Mempriclus to a magery school and by the age of fourteen he exelled past many of his teachers, magic seemed to be as natural to him as walking and talking.

By sixteen he had outgrown the school and attracted the eye of the great mage Morvidus. Morvidus was famed in legend for his exploits and power, travelling to different planes and dimensions he was the most powerful mage that ever lived.

Mempriclus became his apprentice and for thirteen years studied under Morvidus' eye.

By now Morvidus was growing old, he relied more and more on Mempriclus for support, only Morvidus' great magic kept him alive.

In the thirteenth year of his studies Morvidus decided to teach Mempriclus the ways of war, with spells ranging from bolts of lightning to petrification Mempriclus eagerly absorbed knowledge and grew and grew in power.

At the end of the thirteenth year Morvidus died, the last of his energy used to create a pendant, which would signal the end of Mempriclus' training, next to the pendant on a small pedestal lay the spellbook of Morvidus. Taking the book Mempriclus quickly learnt the secrets of Morvidus and became himself the most powerful mage on the continent.

Then the war came, screaming and howling they came from the void, a cruel dimension of energy. A rival mage was trying to learn the secrets. The empire formed a great army with rows and rows of soldiers and many many mages, Mempriclus among them, for eight years the war waged with many skirmishes and counter-attacks, Mempriclus was assigned to a special division of mages who were used for missions through the void.

After the war the empire was crumbling, the soldiers disbanded and Mempriclus dissapeared for many years, returning one day to build his own tower and continue to research and practice his fine arts.

Balls of energy crackle and lightning flashes, a great wind blows and then a huge release is felt.

All becomes calm.

Slowly an old man hobbles out of the library.

"And so It begins" he says.

Malinne watches the old man exit the library from the shadow of a nearby tree and wonders what he means by what he said. She also wonders if this weak old man was responsible for all the commotion that just occured in the building and what kind of powers he must possess.

Malinne pulls her hood over her face and hides quickly in the shadow of the library and when the coast is clear she sniffs the air and enters the building.

-Looking for something? - the low pitched deep male voice from behind scares Malline and makes her turn around. Not much light is in the library at this time, so the room is covered with darkness. Malline looks into the black air in the direction of the voice.

The speaker does not make her wait for long. Two grey eyes slightly light up to the right of Malline, as a siluet of a tall hooded man in the black overcoat silently steps up from the shadowed wall. Having no wish to be frightening, he makes his steps possible to hear, and smirks friendly, making an inviting jesture with his left hand. He speaks in a relaxed manner, gently and rapidly, but still seriously and clearly, and without introduction:

-Nice evening. - his voice makes him sound older - Do not be afraid, I was here for a while. I came before he did.

He walks around the isles, picks up a book, browses through it without interest, just to occupy his hands.

-Books...books... wizards. I saw him, it was a wizard. - he put the book back - I bet you were wondering what he was doing here. Me too, frankly. He appeared out of nowhere, with a flash of light, as they always do.
Do these things happen in Troll's Bane often? The more I stay here, the more I like this place.

He smiled at her from under his hood. She could only see his long sharp chin and two eyes in the darkness. He looked somewhat frightening, but not evil.
He walked towards the exit door. Then he turned around and waived at her, invitingly.

-Great night outside. If you join me for a walk, I will tell you what I saw.
Coming?

Alright then - he said - Mind if I stay with you? Although I am not very interested in magical books, I find other writings very useful.

Yes, - he replies vaguely to her question, - It was me who was looking for maps, I posted that note on the wall, and it was my dagger...
There! - he changes the subject and points at a slightly burnt spot on the floor - That is where he appeared. I sneaked in to do some reading here, to get a little familiar with local literature, I feel better when I am alone, and then - there he was.

He spoke very calmly, not trying to throw everything out in one breath, his words were not rapid anymore, but rather serious and concentrated.

-Right in the middle of the room, instant teleportation. I am merely armed, so I concealed myself. Looks like it worked. He did not see a thing - I was lucky enough. He was saying some spells, I beg your pardon, but in terms of wizardry I am completely illiterate. I never had inborn magical abilities, so I never went into it.