The prison of destiny

You wake (if it can be called waking) in a place that exists on no map.

There are flasks, circles carved into the floor, a silence that weighs on you. And there is a Mage. You cannot see his face, only the silhouette of someone who knows exactly what he is doing there and why you are there too.

“You are here by my will. This is my laboratory…”

He speaks of you the way one speaks of a piece on a board.

“I have great plans for you, so concentrate… Don’t worry, it’s your destiny! Follow the path.”

Further on he appears again, impatient.

“You don’t belong here, get out!” And then, as if changing his mind: “Look. A great destiny awaits you, that’s why you’re here. You don’t need to understand much about your situation.”

He shows you what he calls your future. He shows you, he says, your prison.

“You are a prisoner of your destiny… and of the destiny of the worlds of Yggdrasil.”

“The weak always lose,” he adds. “Watch.”

And then something goes wrong. For the first time, the Mage does not seem to be in control.

“What’s happening?!”

The Council of Mages

The light shatters in several places at once. Through the cracks come robed figures: Archmage Ornelia and her own, the mages of the Arsinoe Council.

“Oh, there you are!” cries Ornelia. “At last we’ve caught you, cursed Lifeless One!”

“Ornelia…” the Mage spits. “And her pathetic Council mages.”

“The Dragon of Gondar was right!” she answers. “Let’s free the adventurer! Archosio! Ghoji! Oeste! The spell!”

“Of course, master!” replies Archmage Archosio, and the three begin weaving something that makes the laboratory tremble.

“That old dragon always talks too much…” the Mage growls.

“We won’t kill you,” Ornelia tells him. “We no longer belong to this world. We’ll only take the adventurer, and you will return to the place where you belong.”

She turns to you and holds out her hand.

“Come on! Trust me!”

“Curse you!” roars the Mage as the spell engulfs him. “Carry on with your adventure for now! But hope won’t take you very far…”