Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

"Damn you tricksters." The wizard cursed while pulling the arrow out of his back.

He turned and launched a fireball to where Lucan and Silent had been standing, but they were already gone.

Silent had retreated to the tree line while Lucan ran towards the tower, activating telekinetic cling and running straight up the wall towards the floating wizard.

"How could I be so foolish? You are adventurers trying to claim my tower. DIE!!!"

Lucan jumped off the tower, soaring through the air towards the wizard with his sword and dagger in hand.

The wizard stretched out his arm, his palm facing towards Lucan. A blast of orange fire engulfed the warlock.

To avoid the flames, Lucan activated ethereal step. This caused him to pass through the fire and the wizard. He was falling towards the ground again.

Silent aimed her bow and unleashed a supersonic arrow that flew faster than the speed of sound.

*Bang*

A flaming shield appeared before the wizard blocking the arrow. The impact shattered the shield but kept the wizard safe.

Lucan hopped back up to his feet once he was on the ground. Three throwing knives pierced through the air and headed for the wizard's chest.

Roland, the wizard of destruction, turned his body to fire for a moment. The knives flew straight through him.

*Clink*

One of the knives rebounded off the tower and stabbed into Roland's back.

"Argh!" The wizard reached to dislodge the blade.

Silent didn't miss her chance and followed up with another arrow, this one had a thin silver line attached to it.

Her aim struck true and the arrow found its mark inside Roland's thigh. Silent yanked on the silver line tied to the arrow. The wizard was caught off guard and came crashing towards the ground.

As he was falling, Lucan used a telekinetic slam to send the wizard smashing into his own tower.

*Bang*

Four arrows with pinpoint precision nail the wizard to the wall, each limb received an arrow.

Lucan began the chant for shadow domain.

"I will destroy you arrogant fools."

Even though the wizard was pinned to the tower and unable to move, a black book appeared before him. Without assistance, the book opened as pages quickly turned. When the pages stopped shuffling a magical energy filled the air.

"ACTIVATE!"

A yellow claw stretched out of the open book and pulled its body into existence and climbed to the ground.

In between the warlock and the wizard stood a minitour made of yellow lightning energy.

The minitour snorted, sending sparks flying toward the ground.

Before Lucan could react, am arrow flew over his shoulder. The minitour slowly walked towards Lucan, ignoring the incoming threat. The arrow passed through his body and was disintegrated by the electrical force.

Letting out an angry "MOO!!!" The minitour charged.

Lucan sneered and waved his hand.

Moments before the horns made of lightning impaled the warlock a green portal opened. Unable to stop, the minitour ran through and straight into a group of earth elementals in the earthen quadrant of the elemental realm.

The portal closed as Lucan looked at the wizard who had turned to fire again to dislodge himself from his own tower.

"Insolent fools, I will teach you the meaning of destruction." He said as a large meteor started to form in the sky.

Lucan cursed. He had overused his ethereal energy to open the portal and could no longer use ethereal step and his shadow form couldn't protect him from magical damage.

The meteor started to fall, there was no way he would be able to escape in time.

"I happen to know a thing or two about destruction." Lucan said to the wizard as he took a step closer.

*BOOM*

Lucan self-destructed a moment before the meteor hit the ground. Roland may be safe from his own magic, but Lucan's detonation sent him flying backwards, bloodied and battered.

The meteor caused a shockwave to roll through the area. When the dust settled, Silent found the wizard barely alive grinning as he pointed his staff at her, who had just as little health as he did. If either of them attack, they would both die.

"Looks like we are at an impasse, perhaps you should just go home." The wizard said to the Rogue.

"I am not worried." Silent replied.

At that moment, the Wizard felt a dagger on his throat after Lucan appeared behind him.

"Prepare to die!" The warlock yelled.

"STOP!" Roland said, throwing his staff to the ground. "Please spare my life. I don't want to die, I am so close to a breakthrough in my research."

"What is your life worth?" Asked Lucan.

"Everything. I will give you everything I have, my tower, my spells, my loyalty, even my grimoire."

Silent nodded as she kept her bow aimed at the wizard. Lucan decided to make a deal.

"Alright, I also want your soul when you die. You can keep your tower, but I want to take a look around first."

"Yes, whatever you say mighty benefactor. This one will do anything for his life."

"Then you shall faithfully serve me until your demise. Do we have a deal?" Lucan asked.

"Deal." Roland answered.

The warlock activated pact magic. In his inventory, a sheet of parchment appeared. It was the claim to Roland's soul.

Lucan pulled back his knife as the wizard breathed a sigh of relief.

"Master, Mistress, let me show you around inside."

The wizard blasted a hole into his tower and led them to the top floor. It was divided into two rooms. One was covered in parchment and spell formulas while the other was made of a dark black material and completely impervious to magic. It was a magic testing room.

"You can wait downstairs." Silent said to Roland.

"Of course, but first." Roland pulled out the black book he had summoned during the fight and handed it to Lucan.

[Grimoire of Kilvar]

[Unique Item]

[One of the 100 lost grimoires of the Wizard's conclave. Originally created by the arch-wizard, Helrich Kilvar, this grimoire was lost to time after the conclave's demise. It was only found when a wizard of destruction blew up a small hill, unearthing it from its resting place.]

[Kilvar's Grimoire can store spells restricted by the user's class. The grimoire consumes spell books to learn a new spell. Ten spells can be stored in the grimoire. Only one spell can be cast from the grimoire per day. All spell cast by the grimoire are instant and do not need preparations, nor do they need to be channeled for a continuous effect. All spells recorded in the grimoire will have their cooldowns doubled.]

[Grimoire will be dropped upon death.]

"Not bad." Lucan said to Silent after showing her the book. He didn't like the last part, but that was the risk of an item that broke the rules of the game.

Currently there were already two spells inside.

[Summon Elemental Minitour]

[User can summon a minitour made from a single element for five minutes after a thirty second chant. The minitour will follow all the users' command. Cooldown for spell is 2 days (4days).]

The spell was on cooldown still and wouldn't be ready to use by the time Lucan had to fight the Plague Baron.

[Tempest of Retribution]

The user summons a storm cloud that stretches out five hundred feet in all directions and lasts for one minute. Freezing rain slows all targets unable to resist. Five seconds after the rain starts, lightning falls with the chance to stun those it hits. Five seconds after the lightning, thunder claps, causing shockwave damage and has a chance to deafen those under the cloud. Five seconds after the thunder, hail begins to fall, causing physical damage. Five seconds after the hail begins, the wind whips into a frenzy making ranged attacks impossible and has a high chance to cause those under the cloud to lose their balance. The storm continues for another 30 seconds before it disappears. Spell can only be cast once per month. (once every two months).]

The second spell was truly amazing but unfortunately it was on cooldown as well. There were still two weeks in its recharge time.

Lucan and Silent continued to look around the tower but had no luck in finding any spell books. Silent did stumble on a huge crate of spell scrolls. Apparently, Roland was also a scribe. They took over 1,000 scroll of destruction magic. Most of them were low level but there were a couple that would help Lucan in his coming fight.