Library: Conundrums of a Novice

In a bustling city there lived an inept sorcerer's apprentice. Nobody remembers for sure, but for the sake of simplicity we shall call her Clarissa. She was kind and ordinary elven female and was struggling with her studies. On night at the library when she was alone, she got startled by a sudden noise. A huge mystical tome had just fallen out of the shelf. As she investigated it, she noticed it had opened on a certain page with a spell that seemed to promise faster reading and learning ability. Just what she had hoped for! Clarissa took the book to her tower, lit some candles and started to study the spell. It seemed too easy to cast, but she was yearning for all the help she could have, as her master was quite reclusive living in his tower alone. Clarissa chanted the magic words: "cucculuuruu cuca pelcaa paholaista". Runes on the tome started to glow and it started to shake. Black smoke erupted from it, stood still for a moment. Then it flew out of the window like a swarm of insects. Clarissa had felt disturbing sense of evil and wondered what kind of ruse that was. Next day, there was ruckus in the city square. The innkeeper had been murdered, belly slashed open in his sleep. He was a well-liked person in city, and people were wondering and speculating who would have done such thing. There were no real suspects. During the following nights, even more people were found dead. Only connecting thing in these murders was strange black soot near the bodies. Clarissa couldn't help but to think she had something to do with it. One night the king' advisor was killed, and the murders continued. Final straw was the banker's daughter. Clarissa decided she had to do something. Clarissa climbed up the sorcerer's tower. When she arrived at the door, a regular knock did no good. It had to be a magical password to enter the sorcerer's room. The sorcerer was very old and rumoured to be demented, spending all his time in the tower. Clarissa explained her the situation and his eyebrows raised. "You did what now? I guess that's where the demon hid itself then." said the sorcerer. Clarissa was nearly crying: "I didn't mean to! I didn't know! Is there anything we can do?" The sorcerer answered: "Now is not the time for crying, but quite the opposite! We will create an amulet, and use a binding enchantment to bind the demon into it. I will study the needed spells and you'll collect the ingredients. Got it?" Clarissa dries her tears, looking a bit more brave. "Alright, I will do it." Clarissa checked on her "shopping list". A dragonfly's wing, goblin's nail and an unicorn horn. "Where am I going to come up with these? The wing's easy enough, but where am I going to find a goblin, or even yet, an unicorn." She thought. Armed with her magic wand, long dagger and some minor tools in her bag she set out for her quest. She ventured to nearby pasture and beyond, to the stream. There she found an abundance of dragonflies and studied them a for bit. She casted paralyzing spell at one, and carefully removed it's wings. She knew she hadn't thought this through, should she leave it alive or mercifully kill it? Well, it's only an insect she thought and killed it. There were caverns not far away where goblins lived. Clarissa knew the place, and hoped to find one wandering. The search was short, there was a goblin dilly-dallying outside. She prepared her spell, and waited for the goblin to get closer. "Vorek ky taree" she uttered, and the goblin was stunned. Clarissa took her dagger and got closer to the goblin but began to wonder which finger would the goblin miss the least. She decided the nail on the pinky was too small and went for the ring finger and begin to pry the nail loose. What a gruesome act it was, she didn't like it one bit. Next up was the unicorn horn. She had heard of the enchanted meadow where unicorns were rumoured to roam and decided to go there. Nothing was to be seen, so she hid behind a big rock. Clarissa did not know how long she was there, or if she had even fallen to sleep, but when she woke up there was a majestic white unicorn looking at her. Quickly she pulled her wand out and stunned the creature. Now she was facing the earlier problem again. Could an unicorn live without it's horn? Could she live with the fact she had killed one? She hesitated so long that the spell wore out and the unicorn got up and ran away. Clarissa thought of the dying people in the city and decided something had to be done so she started to search the surrounding area. She came up to an ancient unicorn on the ground. She figured, as the unicorns are intelligent and magical, she'd ask it for it's horn. And she did. The unicorn seemed to understand. It bowed in submission and went down on all fours. Clarissa grabbed the horn and it came loose. With all the items ready, Clarissa went back to the sorcerer. The sorcerer was surprised Clarissa could have gotten them all, but went to work anyhow. During the preparation of amulet the sorcerer told Clarissa what she would need to learn to master the binding enchantment. She went right into work. They had the amulet and the spell ready, now was time to face the evil. Clarissa was supposed to be in the city at the darkest hour, but she had grown hesitant. "What if I can't make it?" she asked from the sorcerer. "It is our only chance, be brave" answered the sorcerer. Clarissa stood in the middle of city square, waiting with the amulet ready. Swoosh! A dark swarm flew past her, almost sending her tumbling. The black smoke appeared in front of her, taking a form of a warrior, sword in it's hand. Clarissa thought now would be the time and she lifted the amulet and began chanting the words "paha saabi palccansa" over and over again. It had no effect. The dark warrior advanced. When it was near, it took a swing. Clarissa managed to partially dodge and fell down, but it left scrape in her upper chest. She was defenseless. The smoky being advanced yet again. It lifted it's sword. Suddenly from somewhere in darkness 'fah mar nak grttzt' was heard. A lava blast hit the warrior's middle section. It stumbled, but it started to take on a reddish colour. Flames burst out of the warrior. The sorcerer helped Clarissa up. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Nothing but a flesh wound." said Clarissa. They looked at the warrior now, as it was bursting with flames, looking more dangerous than ever. 'cah mar nak grttzt' uttered the sorcerer, and cold ray shot towards the warrior. Flames went out, but now it seemed like an icy warrior and they could feel the coldness. 'zot mark nak grttzt' the sorcerer went once again and electrocution hit the warrior. It became a living lightning! "We better not touch that!" said Clarissa. "Yes, but I'm starting to see a pattern here." said the sorcerer. "What are we going to do, nothing is working!" Clarissa went desperately. "I have an idea! You need to fend for yourself for the time being!" exclaimed the sorcerer while he left into the darkness. Clarissa felt alone and in extreme danger. She decided to focus solely on avoiding the lightning warrior's attacks. ZZZZOTTTT! a lightning bolt flew just past her. Zero chance of dodging those in the future, she thought. Clarissa was dumbfounded, but somehow she thought of her physics classes. 'rise Rise RISE' she casted the floating spell, just as the last attack came. ZZZZOTTTT! it hit her, but she was only stunned. "We're here!" shouted the sorcerer. "... who what" Clarissa could only utter. The sorcerer had woken and brought the priest of the city. The sorcerer said "Do it, do it now." The priest whisper "judicandus zapracus" at the warrior. The elemental side of the warrior got dispelled. The priest did it again, and the smoky being shrieked as in pain. Priest kept going. The smoke changed sizes and shapes and shrieked terrifyingly. "Couple more." said the sorcerer. The smoke dispersed into air and left only a patch of black soot on ground. The sorcerer and Clarissa met in the tower. "I'm so sorry for all the trouble." said Clarissa. "Yes, horrible ordeal in all... but I think you've earned yourself some name and some curriculum points as well. Wasn't that what you hoped for?" said the sorcerer. "Yes... but maybe not this way." said Clarissa, looking down.

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Library: Conundrums of a Novice