Forsaken Hero
by Richard B. Sampson Jr.

As I walked into the Masoleum, I could swear I heard outside the door, “She must plan to ransack the dead, or ruin her brother’s body more than she had.”

I was almost appauled at what they had said, but it was true. When I had finally reversed what I had done to him, he was dead. I heard a second, kinder villager say, “I think she is going to pay respects. It has been five years, and she carries the Book of Protection. If she was evil, she could not hold such a book.” It had been nice of that villager to say I wasn’t evil, but most still thought that since I used magic, I was evil. If I had been a Wizard instead of a Sorceress. If I was a male magic user, I would have respect, but since I was a woman, they feared me. Even before what happened to my brother, I was feared, but I had more respect. I honestly think the loss of their respect happened when I lost my brother. I still remember that day.

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I looked at the spell book that I had been studying. It had said that in our world were eight realms, and a temple to worship from. It also said that every so many years, a hero of the realms was capable of becoming a legend. One of the first traits of these chosen heroes was the ability to alter forms. Another was the ability to use special techniques. I looked over the information about altered forms and that each realm had a chosen form. For my realm, which was dubbed the Province, it was the Medusa. I knew enough about creatures to know that a Medusa could change creatures to stone at a glance. This was one thing that I didn’t want to risk. I walked to the door to my building, and said to a nearby villager. “Ma’am. I need you to do me a favor. I will be testing a spell in here, and it is absolutely imparitive that I not be disturbed. Do you understand?”

It had been one of the nicer villagers in town as she nodded and said, “I understand. A Sorceress should not be disturbed when testing new spells. If anything goes wrong, who should I call for help.”

I thought for a moment. Who could she call for help? Then I looked at the book. It had been writen by the Mage Sumner. He was a legendary practitioner of Magic, and knew more than anyone could ever know. “Have someone go and fetch Sumner. He will know what to do.” She nodded and I closed the door.

I walked over to the book and read on how a person from my realm could access this form. First, it said one must have a heart of good. That was one thing I was sure I had. I had never done anything out of spite. Next was I had to reach the beast inside of me. The next was to have a legendary item nearby. It was listed that for the Province, it was a book know as the Book of Protection. The last requirement was the one I doubted most. It required the pressense, in physical form, or in spiritual form, of an evil that would only threaten the realm. The book gave no reference on what it could be, but something made me think it was in the graveyard if it existed. My workshop was near the graveyard, since I hunted mushrooms from there. I closed my eyes and then focused on all of those items. As I focused on my spell, I felt it taking affect. I felt my hair changing, and my body shifting in form. It felt odd. I also wanted to yell out in pain, but kept myself from doing that. I propped myself up at the table as the spell started to finish its task. I had indeed changed form. I wish I could have looked at myself in a mirror, but I was afraid I would turn to stone. Then I heard the woman outside say, “You can’t go in there, your sister said no one was to enter.” My brother was outside.

I then heard the door open as he said, “My sister will want to hear this.” I heard him close the door and say, “Sister, I have found a powerful spell for you to look at.” I felt him put his hand on my shoulder and spin me around. Then I saw the horror in his face, and felt the fear as he turned to stone. I quickly reverted back, hoping he would return to normal, but he didn’t.

I immediatly ran to the door and said, “Something terrible had happened. Someone go the tower and fetch Sumner. I need his help.” Then I noticed that a look of fear was on everyone’s face. They thought I had done something to my brother deliberately.

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When I neared the door in the Masoleum that lead to my family’s crypt, I breifly shuddered. Would his spirit forgive that accident, and what had happened afterwords? I then thought back to what I had done to make matters worse.

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It had been almost a week since I asked for Sumner’s help. All I got in return was that he was not in, and I had to try and correct my mistake myself. I had never preformed a spell to change a statue back to a person. I had to try my best. It had taken me a while, but I found a stone to flesh spell. I quickly prepared the spell, and hoped it would work. When I finally completed and preformed the spell. I watched in horror as he didn’t turn into a living person, but a rotting corpse. When the full horror of the situation occured to me, I just shouted out “NOOOOO” Everyone came running in, to see the sight. I knew some blamed me, but others blamed my brother for ignoring my own warning.

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I openned the door to the crypt and hoped for the best. As I walked in, I felt his presence in the room and said, “Brother. My dear brother. It is I, your sister. I’m sorry for what happened to you five years ago. You didn’t deserve that to happen.”

I was almost shocked as I heard an unholy voice say, “That is what you think, dear sister. It went exactly as I had planned. I have almost become what I set out to be.” I looked for the sourse of the voice and saw a form slowly rise up. He had turned into some undead creature.

I started to step back and a hand grabbed my ankle. “What did I do to you?”

I saw the erie form smile at me as it said, “Nothing, dear sister. Everything you did, did nothing to me. I did everything to myself. I have been doing this stuff for a long time. Even sabatoging your spells during my rest. The people never wised up, and now, when I leave this Masoleum, they will blame you.” There was an otherworldly laugh, and I finally freed my ankle. I quickly pulled out the Book of Protection, and watched as a huge beam of light shot at the being that used to be my brother.

As he yowled in pain, I just said, “You destroied my brother. What are you?”

As I backed out of the crypt, I heard the creature say, “I am a Lich, and that book won’t keep me here forever.” When I slammed the door, there was only one thought in my mind. I had to warn the villagers. They had to know what to do.

When I reached the outside, I was startled by how many people were there. I then saw the town leader walk up to me and say, “So, you tried to summon an undead creature.”

I shook my head and said, “No. Something had taken over the dead body of my brother. It called itself a Lich. If I hadn’t used the Book of Protection, it would be here right now.”

The leader just looked at me and said, “A likely story. You tried to bring this creature to ruin us because of you own disgrace. Well, you no longer need worry about our Province. You are banished. You and your evil is banished.” I felt them rip the book from my arms. Then they herded me to the exit of town.

When they had me out of town, with nothing but my staff, I looked off in the distance to the tower. It was strange how it seemed to be an etherial entity. I then felt something calling me to the tower. As I started the long trek, I just said, “Sumner, I hope you can give me answers.”

The end of the Sorceress Story.