[Ginkasa]

Jarom, the newest recruit of Garoth’s town guard, watched atop a modest wooden outpost as a lone man wandered toward the city gates. The man appeared to have neither horse nor food nor weapon – dangerous items to be lacking when one traveled to Garoth. The nearest city was more than a day’s ride away to the west, but the man was coming from the east. There was not a settlement closer than a week’s ride in that direction. No mortal man could survive such a trip without rations or horse or weapon, Jarom concluded, so the man must have broken off from a larger group.

Jarom peered across the flat grassy plains towards the horizon for any sign of an escort, but he found none. Odd, he thought. There’s no place for escort to hide; I should be able to see anyone from miles away. Jarom retrieved his telescope from his side and brought it up to his. “His party is just beyond the naked eye’s view,” Jarom muttered to himself as he attempted to calm his own rising suspicions and fears at what the man might be.

Jarom searched the horizon once more, but again saw nothing. His stomach began to twist as he fears became too strong to quell; the man had to be a sorcerer to survive on his own in the wilderness. Jarom used his telescope to more closely inspect the man.

The man was wearing a simple white tunic and brown pants. A blue cloak was fastened around his neck. His skin was pale and his hair black. Jarom’s nervousness subsided slightly; there was nothing in the man’s clothing or manner that suggested he was a sorcerer. All the same, Jarom was given the task of alerting his superior to any strange sightings, and, sorcerer or not, this man was certainly strange.

Jarom dropped a small pebble down the chute that led to the guardhouse just below the outpost – the signal for the officer to head up to the outpost. Jarom could almost hear the tiny bell at the end of the chute ring as the pebble struck it. Almost immediately the commander of the guard himself rushed out of the guardhouse and up the outpost. Surprised, Jarom snapped into a rushed salute.

As the commander reached the top, he let Jarom at ease and asked, “What is it?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” stammered Jarom. “I wasn’t aware you were the attending officer. I wouldn’t have bothered you.”

“Don’t give my false courtesies,” said the commander. “I hope that you would have called me if you had known. If something is important to call anyone it’s important enough to bother me. What is it?”

Jarom cleared his throat and replied, “There’s a man heading toward the gate just over there.” Jarom pointed. “His doesn’t have any horse or protection or even food. I feared he might be a sorcerer.”

The commander laughed. “So what if he is a sorcerer? I doubt he’s here to harm us. You’ve been listening to your mother too much. My brother’s a sorcerer. Still, I had better take a look.” The commander grabbed Jarom’s telescope and inspected the man. “Yeah,” he said, “he’s a sorcerer alright. There’s no way he could have survived the trip here with his lack of supplies, otherwise. You did well, Jarom.” Jarom smiled at the praise. “I’ll stay up here and welcome him,” the commander continued. “Like I said, he probably means us no harm. However, you can never be too careful.”

The two men waited as the sorcerer continued his walk towards the gate. When he finally came within reasonable hearing distance the commander shouted, “Hello there! Welcome to Garoth. If you’re looking for rest you’ll find an inn just up the road a bit. It’s small, as fitting for a town of this size, but it’ll do you no wrong. Feel free to stay in town as long as you like. We don’t mind strangers here so long as you don’t cause trouble.” Jarom felt left out and decided he should wave a bit.

The sorcerer walked up to the outpost and lifted his hand in what seemed like a friendly wave. Jarom waved once more, relieved that his fears were nothing more than folly. He was just imagining how his family would react when told the story when he heard an awful scream from just behind him. He whirled around and saw the commander bursting with flames. Jarom turned back to the sorcerer and saw that he still had his hand in the air, aimed directly at the commander. The sorcerer’s mouth twisted into a manic grin as his arm shifted to point at Jarom. Jarom turned to run but hadn’t stepped a foot before his body combusted into fire hotter than any natural flame.

The sorcerer calmly strolled into town and began to torch every building with his Dark Magic. As the peasants streamed out of their homes the sorcerer burned them as well. It was not long before the entire town was nothing more than a pile of ashes. Before the sorcerer left the clearing that was a town he used his Dark Magic once more to burn into the grass the name Garawk Tane.

This it was that the second Dark Magic Purge was set in motion.

***

Don't blame me. Blame the lack of sleep.

Ish.

Ness.


*shrugs and walks away*