• The Tower of Mages was quiet, its inhabitants either on the soon-to-be battlefields or in the many workshops and smithies, helping create enchanted weaponry. Except for one.
    That human, was archmage Darius Gnim. He watched the land below from his quarters at the very top of the tower, expecting a terrible war to unfold, soon. His dark-purple robe and cape were adorned by uncountable golden runes, each a different protective enchantment. His brown gloves grasped a long azure staff, with a blood red gem on the top. From behind a ceremonial mask, which also hid his many battle-scars, stared two blue eyes.
    His thoughts were interrupted by a bashing on his golden runic door, which was large enough to classify as a a small gate. The door then swung open and a warrior in silver armour strode in, accompanied by over ten more soldiers.

    He knew the silver-clad figure well.
    “General Runnigan! What do I owe your visit to, old friend?”
    The general's gaze was like stone, unchanging. But his eyes were filled with hatred.
    “We are friends no longer, Darius!”
    His right hand was raised in a confused gesture.
    “What do you mean?!”
    “You despicable fiend... you dare even ask such things?!” the general drew a flaming blade, “after all you have done, you dare act oblivious?!”
    “What ever do you mean?!”
    “I mean this!” Runnigan opened a pouch he had on his left side and threw to the archmage a raven, with a small note tied to its leg, “you know what is written.”

    He emitted a silent cackle and his eyes then stared straight at the general.
    “Why, yes. 'It is time to strike'. Heheheh. How did you find the raven?”
    “One of our hunters shot it by mistake. But that is irrelevant! How could you, Darius?! I thought you were wise!”
    Darius took a step towards them.
    “Wise? I am far more than just wise! I am close to omniscient!”
    “You fool! You talk about yourself as if you were a god, yet you do something so unexplainable!”
    “Do what? What did I do, which was unexplainable? Secretly going into the wastelands? Contacting the beastmen and orcs which live there? Fueling their bloodlust and hatred towards mankind, until they were willing to wage war? Teaching them how to forge weapons and siege engines? Which of these cannot be explained?”
    The general frowned.
    “All of them! Why would anyone do such a thing?!”
    “Hahahahahahah! Is it not obvious?! For power!”
    “What power can a mage gain through a war?!”
    The archmage turned from them and looked at the land below.
    “All the power any human could wish for! Think! When the war erupts, Cadonia will be attacked from all sides. The barbarians will be endless! And then... I will go on a heroic mission into enemy territory, finding the enemy leaders and destroying them. I shall leave evidence of another tribe's doing and the horde shall destroy itself from within! And I shall return to the kingdom, a hero of all time!”
    “And then what?! You would merely be more respected!”
    “Alas, our poor kind shall soon pass on... thanks to me.”
    “What?!” Runnigan was having trouble keeping his blade away fro Darius.
    “Heheheh. Indeed. Did you really think the illness plagueing the old man was natural?”
    “But our priests...”
    “Consulted with me, before telling the results. Heheheheheh. And when the old fool untimely dies, the people will want me to lead them, a hero!”
    “Such thoughts would never even...”
    “Oh, really? Thanks to a few cults I have under my complete command, those thought will be quite prominent among the crowd! And why not have an archmage as a king?! Wise, powerful and on top of all that... a hero! I shall at first rule wisely, while the king's family slowly starts to drift away, because of the same illness. But I may just spare their lovely daughter. Then... I shall rule with an iron fist. But I will not stop there, oh no... the world will be my playing field!”
    “How long have you had these... these schemes?! Months?!”
    To this, Darius turned to them... and laughed. The laughter chilled their souls.
    “Hahahahahahahah!! You understand nothing of schemes. I have put my plans in motion when I was a mere novice of the mage guild!”
    “But... that was...!”
    “Yes, thirty years ago. And soon, all my work will culminate into a glorious victory!”

    The general's blood was almost boiling.
    “None of that will happen! You are coming with us!”
    Darius' blue eyes flashed and the runic door closed behind the soldiers.
    “Oh, I do not think so. In fact, I think you were so enraged when you read the message, that you only took these few men and ran straight towards the tower, not showing the message to anyone. Which means no one else knows about my actions.” Runnigan face turned a bit more pale. “just as I thought. Excellent. Now I just have to dispose of you... and then, frame you for attempted assassination.”
    “Why you!!!”

    Runnigan didn't wait a second longer, his anger had escalated to levels unheard of. His blade was ready to slice the archmage in half. With a single gesture, Darius sent him flying through the room with a wave of force.
    The soldiers moved, as well. Another wave of a hand and muttering of ancient words and two armours on the sides of the room came to life. They were red, intimidatin and with four arms. Each of those had a enchanted blade in them.
    “Heheheh. I had expected such an attack, so I made some protective measures. You are all doomed.”
    The soldiers tried in vain to fight the automatons. The best they could do was try to block the blades with their shields. And even those couldn't hold forever.

    Runnigan got back up and walked towards the archmage, his left arm broken. Thankfully, the right one was the sword-arm.
    He spoke, a hint of pain in his voice:
    “And what about our friendship? Was that a lie, too?”
    “Of course! I knew a high-ranking officer could prove to be an invaluable asset... either as support or, in our case, as bait.”
    “You tricked everyone...”
    Darius pointed at him with the staff.
    “Yeeees. It is strange, really. Everyone think I am their tool, their puppet. While I am, in fact, the puppet master. And they, are the puppets.”
    The general raised his blade once more, ignoring the pain in his other arm.
    “Well, then. This puppet is sick of getting its strings pulled.”
    “Heheheheh. It is time to remove the puppet from the play.”
    Runnigan couldn't help but agree. His blade seemed to shine even more brightly and he charged, left arm flailing about, causing him pain. But he didn't care. The general only wanted to destroy a monster... which had been a friend but an hour ago.

    He thrust with the blade, aiming for Darius' chest... but was stopped by a wall of dark energy. He tried with all his might, but he couldn't break through.
    “You have failed, general.”
    “Never! By the might of Azuny...”
    An aura of light gathered around Runnigan. It pulsated with energy.
    “What?!”
    “...help me smite this demon!”
    And 'demon' was a quite correct term. The aura of light moved from him to the sword. The mighty blade pierced through the dark wall and similarly, pierced the archmage's lungs.
    The armours fell apart, the wall of shadow dissipated. And Darius barely stood. Blood dripped not only from his robve, but also from under his mask.
    “I... m-may have,” he gasped for air desperately, “u-un-under... estimated you. But I still... h-have one... scheme left. Heh.” he coughed more blood.

    Then, in his hand, a blue gem appeared. It had a cube-like shape and golden energy swirled inside of it. The soldiers had no idea what it was. Runnigan, however...
    “The Tower Crystal... you fool!”
    A flame rose from Darius' palm and it consumed the precious crystal. The magical energies which kept the entire tower high in the sky... vanished. And it started collapsing.
    Darius let out his last words:
    “Call it... a p-parting gift, heheh.”
    The archmage's body then fell to the floor.
    “DAAAAAAARIUUUUUUUSSSSS!!!!!”
    The massive tower literally broke in half and started falling. It hit the ground with a deafening crash. Part of the capital was demolished.

    ******

    His eyes shot open. The darkness around him was infinity. No light could be seen, yet he could clearly see himself.
    Darius asked himself:
    “Where am I?”