Evolution: A Warlock’s Rise To Power

Lucan flew over the top of the forest. With his flying carpet, it was much easier to travel since he could now rise above the tops of the trees. He continued to periodically activate Omni-vision in search of a pocket dimension, but he still hadn't had any luck.

He was hovering in the air eating his lunch and sharing a bit with Adrestia when he heard a loud roar in the distance.

Roar's and other bestial noises were not rare in the forest, but this one sounded rather close. Since it came from a direction, he hadn't explored yet, Lucan decided to go and take a look.

After flying for only a minute, he spotted someone in a clearing ahead.

A level fifty player was all on his own. Holding up a sword and slowly backing away, he kept his attention on the edge of the clearing.

A large furry creature walked out of the tree line on four legs. Just standing on four legs, the creature was already over six feet tall. It looked like a bear, but much bigger and there were thick gray stripes across its brown fur. It was a fel-bear.

There was another roar, as a second fel-bear walked out of the tree line, opposite the first, with the man between the two bears.

The man looked panic as he shifted his gaze between the first and the second.

"You damn bears! Even if you eat me, I will come back as a ghost and haunt you. I will not be silenced easily!" The man shouted before charging at the bear closest to him.

The player was level fifty while each bear was almost to level one hundred. No matter how Lucan looked at it, he didn't think that the player would survive.

Impressed by the man's bravery and willing to fight to the end, Lucan decided to lend a hand. It wouldn't be too much effort anyway.

The warlock stored away his flying carpet mid-air and began to fall. He motioned for Adrestia to deal with one of the fel-bears while he would deal with the other.

Falling to the ground, Lucan landed between the man and the bear with a splash of shadows. When his body reformed, he stretched out his arm and pointed his wand at the bear.

*Bang*

The flashbang spell blinded and silenced the area.

The fel-bear reared back on two legs and madly rubbed at its eyes. With it's stomach exposed, Lucan unleashed a telekinetic slam to send the bear tumbling backwards, before letting lose a flurry of telekinetic slashes. A phantom rogue rose on either side of him and dove forward to continue the assault.

The bear was dead before it could ever get back to it's feet.

Lucan turned to see the man's stunned expression. It was clear, he never thought anyone would intervene.

Just as the man was about to speak, there was a pitiful wailing coming from behind him. He turned to see the second fel-bear was covered in purple flames and was being burned alive. A moment later, all that was left was ash.

"It is best to stay closer to the cities, or at least have a good means of escape if you plan on venturing in to the wilds." Lucan said while summoning his flying carpet, preparing to leave.

"Asshole!!!!" Came a shout from the clearings edge. "What the hell are you doing? Why don't you mind your own business?" An orc player shouted while walking towards Lucan.

Not sure what was going on, Lucan stood between the human player he saved and the orc player. The orc was level one hundred, it wouldn't be to hard for him to mess up the human he had just saved.

"Take it easy." Lucan said to the orc while changing his wand for his scepter.

"Cut!" Yelled another voice. Four more people walked out form the edge of the clearing. Lucan was surprised to see that some of them were operating cameras.

"Gerald, you are on your own. I won't be able to resummon my pets for twenty-four hours. I already returned the favor I owe you, and I told you I can only help out for a day. If you want to use my fel-bear's again, you will have to wait till I am available again. Otherwise find someone else."

Without out saying anything more, the orc pulled out a return scroll and activated it, disappearing from the clearing.

Lucan scratched his head, he had an idea what was going on here.

Suddenly a hand clasped the warlock's shoulder.

"Ha, ha, friend I apricate the help, and it is a good thing to defend those in need. But in this case, we were filming a movie."

Lucan felt a bit embarrassed. The fel-bears were the orc's pets, since they died they would not be able to be summoned again for awhile.

"Sorry about that." Lucan said, scratching his head and looking away, slightly embarrassed.

"It is alright, these things are bound to happen when filming in Evolution." The man said.

The camera men and the director had reach the center of the clearing where Lucan and Gerald were standing.

Gerald turned to the director. "Unless you can find someone else with fel-bears or at least some sort of large forest beast, we will have to put this scene on hold."

"Yes, it is unfortunate, but I think we will have to pass over this scene for now, until arrangements can be made. I will inform Annabell and let her know the situation."

"Woah, are you guys from Starlight Entertainment?" Lucan asked.

The whole crew nodded. He was surprised that he would randomly meet Starlight people after having just dealt with them.

"Ah, since this is my fault, I can help you out if you don't mind."

Gerald looked to the director hopefully. Gerald was always interested in maintain the schedule or getting ahead of it. He may be one of the major investors in this film, but ultimately it was the director's call.

The director look at Lucan, checking out his name.

"Hmm, your name sounds familiar, but I generally don't let outsiders work on my projects. What do you think Gerald."

"If he can help, and wants to, let him." Gerald said with a shrug. Lucan might have messed up his scene, but he had a good impression of the warlock who jumped in to save him.

"Where do I know you from, why is your name so familiar?"

Lucan smiled. "It's probably because I am the Baron who owns all this land we are currently on."

"That's it." The director said, snapping his fingers. "You are a hand of Raze and ruler of this area. Annabel mentioned that she negotiated with your… wif-, lov-, gir-, with your leveling partner to get our headquarters. Sure, we could use your help. Word is, that you are a master of illusion. Do you think you could recreate a fel-bear?"

"That shouldn't be a problem." Lucan said. With a wave of his scepter, a fel-bear appeared next to the group.

Gerald looked it over. "Impressive, looks and sounds exactly like the real thing." When he reached out his hand passed straight through. "We can film most of the scenes, the combat might be a little tricky though."

"We can still get the bulk of the scene done." The director said.

"Or you could use another illusion." Lucan said.

He conjured a copy of Gerald. The fel-bear pounced forward, attacking the illusionary man. Blood went flying and guts spilled onto the ground as the bear savagely tore the man apart.

"Not bad, not bad. You have done voice acting in the past Gerald. With a bit of dubbing, we could finish the scene entirely."

"It could work." Gerald said happily. "Can you control two bears and my double?" He asked Lucan.

"That is no problem. But first and foremost, I am a seller of power. If you want, I can sell you the ability to make and control a copy of yourself. You are even able to talk through the shadow double. It only cost a bit of your experience points."

Gerald immediately became excited. "You mean I could control my own stunt double?" He asked.

"Sure, that wouldn't be a problem."

"I want it, I want it."

Lucan activated his pact magic and directed Gerald towards the shadow double ability. Without hesitation, the man bought the most expensive version, losing five levels in the process. The best version would allow him to use the shadow double, once every hour.

"Good, good." The director said, seeing the development.

The director wasn't stupid, he knew that if they could rely on illusions, they could further cut down the cost of filming.

"Using illusions is a bit of an art, but with practice, you should be able to pick it up in no time." Lucan told Gerald.

The director stood to the side and watched as Lucan directed Gerald through a few exercises to get him used to controlling a shadow double.

The director wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and had his assistant also become one of Lucan's acolytes. The assistant bought a handful of different illusion spells and practiced off to the side.

After forty minutes, Gerald had a good grasp of controlling the double and when he spoke through the double, everything seemed very natural. His lips, hand movements and expressions, all synced up perfectly. If someone didn't know any better, they would think the Gerald in front of them was the real one.

Gerald showed Lucan the script so he would be able to have the bear do what was necessary. After walking through it a few times, they were ready to try reshooting the scene.

When the director saw that everyone was in place, he called out. "ACTION!"