Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan dusted himself off.

"Thanks, Adrestia."

"That was unexpected." Silent said, as she stirred up the pile of ash left behind by the desk. She didn't manage to find any loot.

"Let's head to the next floor."

"Alright, keep your guard up. We don't need any more furniture launching surprise attacks." Silent said as they headed towards the stairs.

At the top of the staircase they came to a door. Trying the handle, they found it locked and magically reinforced.

"There is no keyhole, I won't be able to pick the lock. Do you think we should try and destroy it, like how we got into the tower?" Lucan asked Silent.

"Don't be silly. I have an idea, get ready."

Silent reached out and knocked on the door.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Delivery for the wizard!"

Lucan gave her a questioning look. He didn't want to put her down, but nobody would be so stupid to fall for that trick.

From the other side of the door came a reply.

"Do you have the boss's newt tails? Otherwise you have the wrong place."

'What the hell?' Lucan thought to himself.

"Yeah, I am the newt tail delivery woman." Silent answered.

A clanking sound came from behind the door as it was swung open. To their surprise they didn't see anybody on the other side.

"Down here." Said a voice.

They looked down to see an extremely small person, only a foot tall, with pointed ears, a thick beard and wearing a bright red hat.

"Who is this? Why does it take two people to make a delivery?"

"Ah, umm… He is new, the delivery company doesn't trust him on his own yet, so I am showing him how it is done."

"Okay, makes sense. Come on in." The small man opened the door all the way. "You can place the tails on the far table and then show me where to sign."

Getting a better look in the room, Lucan and Silent saw two more small people looking identical to the first. They carried around different items and were laying them out before an alchemy table.

Seeing Silent still standing there, the small man hurried her up.

"Quickly, the master will be preforming his new experiment soon. Don't keep us busy, he may need our assistance. Beep, Boop, both of you count the tails and make sure the delivery people didn't screw up."

"Alright ma'am, take out the tails."

"Well…"

"It is supposed to be cash on delivery. Where is the payment?" Lucan asked, while thinking quickly.

The small man who answered the door turned to one of the others. "Beep, do you remember what boss told us to do when a delivery required payment?"

"Yeah, you bet I do. We kill them, hide the bodies and tell the delivery company they never showed up." He said with a grin while he pulled out a knife that was half the size of his body.

With a single step, Beep, disappeared.

*Slice*

A cut appeared on the side of Lucan's calf. The small man didn't turn invisible, no, he was moving so fast that Lucan's eyes couldn't keep up. He realized that these weren't tiny midgets, these were redcaps. Tiny fey creatures that moved at incredible speeds.

"Crap. Kill them." Lucan said, launching a pair of shadow bolts at the two redcaps he could still see.

By the time his magic reached them they had already moved out of the way.

Silent pulled out her bow, nocked an arrow, and let it fly. She found herself with the same problem, as the arrow struck the wall and missed its target. The redcaps were too fast.

"Don't let them escape!" One of the redcaps shouted as another went to shut the door and lock it.

Silent and Lucan put their backs to each other and drew their melee weapons.

"Come on guys. Don't be thieves. You just have to pay for the delivery and then we can end this. There is no need to get violent." Lucan said.

"We aren't paying."

All three disappeared. The wind whipped around them. The redcaps were moving so fast that they were causing a small whirlwind inside the room.

'I got an idea, get ready to pounce.' Lucan said to Silent Telepathically.

Silent nodded and went into stealth.

As fast as he could, Lucan summoned several telekinetic walls through the room.

*Bang* *Shatter*

One of the redcaps crashed into a wall. The speed it was going caused the wall to shatter, but the creature tripped and tumbled into the tower wall.

Silent appeared above the creature and drove her dagger into his back before striking him in the back of the head with the butt end, stunning him.

The two others changed course to aid their coworker only to find that the warlock had placed more telekinetic walls. They too took a tumble.

Lucan jumped towards the one closest to him and used his dagger paired with telekinetic slashes. He put out as much damage as he could in the few moment the redcap was down. Thankfully these little speed machines didn't have much health.

Lucan and Silent each stood over their kills and looked to the last remaining redcap.

The redcap quickly looked towards the exit. Unfortunately, he had locked the door. He didn't think he could escape before the warlock and rogue could catch him. He was stuck in a locked windowless room with two angry people.

The redcap scratched his head. "Did you say you need payment? I thought you asked us to kill you. That is my bad, I apologize, I have the money right here." He said, taking a bag of coins from his pocket and tossing them to the side, away from the locked door.

Silent smirked. She could hear Lucan's soft whisper. He was finished with his chant.

A beam of green energy flew out in an instant and locked onto the last redcap. The creature ran to the door and found its speed had been cut in half. He still moved across the room incredibly fast, but not fast enough to avoid the arrow that had locked onto him.

"Ahh!"

The arrow pierced through the redcap stomach and pinned him to the door he was trying to open.

*Bang*

Lucan finished his spell as the ball of green soulfire exploded the redcap into even smaller bits and pieces.

"All I can say is wow. Why is everything you are suggesting working out today? Heck, we even got paid for our 'Delivery'." Lucan asked.

"It is just because I am amazing." Silent happily said with a smile.

"Yes, yes, I have the most amazing wife." Lucan said, causing Silent to blush.

"You little brats! I told you to keep the noise down!" Shouted a voice from upstairs.

Lucan and Silent could hear the sounds of footsteps descending the stairs.

A wizard in a red robe holding a staff in his hand appeared before them.

"Who are you? What did you do to my servants?!" The wizard asked after looking around the room.

Seeing how successful Silent had been today, Lucan wanted to give it a try. Before she could say anything, he stepped up and replied.

"We came to deliver your goods, but these little bastards tried to kill us when we told them that we needed payment for the delivery."

"Ohhhh, I understand. Let me apologize for the rude behavior of my servants. Here, I have the money, and let me throw in a little extra for the trouble." The wizard said while reaching into his bag.

With a quick flick of his wrist he flung a small bead at their feet.

"Ha, ha, Roland the Destroyer never pays for delivers. Ah, ha, ha, EXPLOSION!!!"

*BOOM*

A large fireball appeared where the bead hit the ground. Lucan and Silent were flung backwards into the wall so hard that it ripped apart and they were launched outside of the tower.

Lucan and Silent managed to recover and break their fall with shadow form but both had lost half their health.

"Nice going. You should have let me handle it." Silent said.

Lucan was a bit embarrassed. "What do mean, we, uh, we have plenty of room to move around now. Yeah, that's right, did you want to fight a destruction wizard in a tiny room?" Lucan quickly said.

"Yeah, okay, we both know you just thought of that now. But it's alright, I still like you." She said while giving his butt a squeeze.

The destruction wizard floated out of the hole in the tower that was now slowly closing.

"Lowly delivery people, I will give you this chance once. Hand over my newt tails and I will give you a swift death, otherwise… I will make use of you in my experiments. What is your answer?" The wizard asked while summoning a dozen bright red fireballs above his head, each the size of a person, ready to cause mass destruction in a moment's notice.

Lucan was about to speak but Silent stepped forward first. Since she had been on a roll today, he hoped she could turn the situation to their advantage.

"What new tails? We are delivering bloodstones. Aren't you the wizard of the windy pass?"

The wizard dismissed the fireballs in the air.

"Oh my, this is embarrassing. You are at the wrong wizard tower. I am the wizard of destruction canyon."

"Really?! No wonder it isn't windy here."

"To get to the windy pass you want to head to the snowy mountain and turn south."

"Okay, thanks for the help." Silent said.

The wizard turned to head back into his tower, leaving Lucan dumbfounded at the stupidity of the situation. When the wizard was about to cast a spell to get back inside, an arrow plunged into his back.