Quick note = Ccae is pronounced "Shay"


The Fourth Magician

Prologue
Early 998 AR
Sanger Ununviame Ccaeuhart

Ccae was only nine years old when her daddy brought her to the cemetery. The sun had yet to rise, but she was already fully lucid. Though she knew not the cause of her unexpected awakening, she knew that going back to sleep was an impossibility. Therefore, she crept out of bed, slipped on her sandals, ventured past the boundaries of her room, and began to sneak down the stairs. But that was as far as she got on her own. “Bad girl” came a voice from behind, startling her horribly. With a squeak, she very nearly fell to her doom, but was snatched up into the air by two powerful arms before she had a chance to fall. “Let me go!” She hissed, as he slung her over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. He always did that when she was in his way, which was often. “Some of us have places to be,” he said with a laugh. “For instance, you should be in dreamland.” Clearing the rest of the wooden stairs with nary a creak, Ccae’s daddy proved once again to be an exceptionally graceful man. Ccae always thought it a strange trait for such a gruff old man. After a few steps, he let her climb off, and she followed him wordlessly as he meandered through the hallway and into the kitchen.

Normally, mommy and daddy always sent her back to bed when she was caught sneaking around after dark. However, on this particular pre-morning, daddy seemed inclined to let her wander. And she had never been one not to abuse the freedoms given to her. Stepping out the kitchen door and into the garden, her daddy snapped his fingers, and a ball of teal blinked into life above his palm. She always loved it when he did magic, and she knew he did so only for her benefit. Her daddy had exceptional night-vision, even though only one of his eyes worked.

An ethereal blue glow permeated their tiny garden, chasing shadows into places unknown. From some hidden tangle of foliage, a cricket chirped angrily at the unexpected interruption, before being killed violently by a passing spider. Mute, both father and daughter strolled past the fruits of mommy’s daily labor, until they came across the roses. Red and beautiful, a patch of them stood tall, just begging to be plucked. Stooping, her daddy obliged five of them, inspected their petals closely with thumb and forefinger as the ghostly-blue hovered over his shoulder. With a sad expression, he seemed to approve of them all. Then, carefully arranging them in a bundle so as not to damage them, he made for the front yard. After stopping briefly to lose a staring contest with the cat, Ccae followed.

“Harassing the animals again?” Ccae’s daddy asked as she rounded the corner. Though his expression was as sad as always, his tone denoted hidden laughter. “The cat was staring at me,” she said, as if that was all the reason she needed. Animals always stared at her. It was stressing. They always stared at her daddy too, but he never seemed to notice, nor care. “I’m going somewhere special today,” he said as she drew near, “would you like to come?”

Suddenly, the world shifted from black to blue as the sky began to herald the sun’s inevitable taking of the horizon. “Can I hold ‘em?” Ccae asked as her daddy‘s spell faded with its necessity. To her extreme delight, he handed the roses over. “Be very careful with them,” he said, “Those are gifts.”

The walk wasn’t long, though by the time they reached the edge of the metal fence, the sun was already hidden amongst the tree-line. In their new-found light, Ccae could clearly see her daddy’s face, and all of his scars, particularly the one across his lip that turned all of his expressions awkward. She wondered at his missing left ear, and the fact that only a small line of red persisted along the rest of his otherwise completely-gray hair. Her mommy always told her that she looked exactly like her daddy did when he was young, but she always took it as an insult. She was young and beautiful. She had no ugly scars along her face, she had both ears, and her head still screamed scarlet through and through. Pretty much the only thing she still shared with her daddy was their deep-set red eyes, though both of hers still saw.

The fence, her daddy told her, was purely ornamental. The bars were thin and intricately crafted, and even Ccae could have bent them if she so desired. But nobody dared bother this particular graveyard, which was why the fence wasn‘t required. Her daddy protected it. “There’s the entrance,” he said, pointing at a huge gate, which was at least two dozen feet tall. The double doors were massive, but as light as a feather. They swung open with minimum noise as Ccae and her daddy set foot on hallowed ground.

Once again, a silent void fell between them as they passed by what appeared to be smaller graveyards, fenced off from one another, each with between five and ten graves in them. Before long, she realized that each miniature graveyard had a sign atop its gate, and the words were slowly descending in alphabetical order as they went.

TORNADOSIDE BATTALION - Mid 987 AR
TIGERSIDE BATTALION - Late 986 AR
TERRORSIDE BATTALION - Late 987 AR

Though she knew not what the signs meant, she didn’t want to ask her daddy to explain them. He had that look on his face again. The same look he got whenever she asked him to teach her magic.

PUNISHMENTSIDE BATTALION - Early 986 AR
PINCERSIDE BATTALION - Late 987 AR
PAINSIDE BATTALION - Early 987 AR

Eventually, she noticed that every grave had some sort of weapon jammed into the earth in front of it. Most were swords. Some were axes. Some were bows, and some were spears. There were even a few that Ccae didn’t recognize.

All were rusted and dead.

LUCKSIDE BATTALION - Late 986 AR
LETHALSIDE BATTALION - Mid 987 AR
LAUGHINGSIDE BATTALION - Late 987 AR

Though nobody but her daddy, and now her, ever set foot in the cemetery, it looked as if it was well taken care of. There were white flowers everywhere, and they swayed gently in the breeze. It was, Ccae thought, a peaceful place to rest. There were hundreds of mini-graveyards, and thousands of graves, but she only committed a few to memory.

EXECUTIONSIDE BATTALION - Mid 987 AR
ENDERSIDE BATTALION - Late 986 AR
EASYSIDE BATTALION - Late 987 AR

And then they came to the B’s. Here, Ccae’s daddy stopped in front of the one without a date at the end.

BURNSIDE BATTALION - Late 987 AR
BROADSIDE BATTALION - Early 986 AR
BOOMSIDE BATTALION -

Boomside Battalion. But what did it mean? “Here we are,” he said in a voice she couldn’t read. With his left hand, he pushed open the ivory gates, and with his right he produced a stuhkhar. With it, he etched a date along the end of the sign.

BOOMSIDE BATTALION - Early 998 AR

Once he finished writing, he put the utensil in his pocket, and walked into the mini-cemetery. Ccae followed. Inside, they were met with six graves. Her daddy gestured to her, and she gave him the roses. One by one, she watched him place a rose on every grave but the last one. He lingered at each plot for a few moments, and placed a finger on the weapon in front of them.
Remembering. Always remembering.

RAMSHAQUERE JEGD / SON OF JETSANG
Mid 968 AR - Early 988 AR

KUGA Lo’KIVAKU / SON OF Lo’KUGAU
Late 970 AR - Late 987 AR

USOSAKA LANCELOCK / SON OF LANCELOCK
Mid 970 AR - Late 987 AR

ZEROMER WAYNE / SON OF ZARAMEHT
Late 969 AR - Late 987 AR

And near the end, was the grave of her uncle, who had died only a year before she was born. Her daddy neglected to touch the black-steel sword in front if it.

SANGER LIEUXUHAU CHRISTYNE / SON OF CASSIDUS
Early 971 AR - Early 988 AR

And at the very end, was her father’s unfilled grave. It was the only one without a body, or the remaining pieces of a body, in the entire cemetery.

SANGER LEIGHGAN CASSANDRE / SON OF CASSIDUS
Early 971 AR -

His task complete, Ccae’s daddy took a step back, and stared blank-faced at each grave in turn. “Daddy… Who are they?” Ccae asked, but she received no answer. She hated it when he ignored her. Or rather, she hated it when he was too deep in thought to do anything but ignore her. Irritated, she pulled on his sleeve, which broke his trance. This time, with his attention, she repeated her question.

“They’re my friends,” he said, closing his eyes. “The second to last one is my brother. I was older by sixteen minutes.”

Ccae blinked. “Oh,” she said. She didn’t know what else to say. Suddenly, she took a step forward, though she didn’t know why at first. Approaching the grave on the far left, she read the name over a few times. “Ramsha… Ramshakweer… Ramshaker…” She mumbled, trying to sound out the word she thought she recognized. “Ram-shuck-ware-ay” her daddy corrected, “Yes, that’s Jeheng’s father.”

Jeheng was Ccae’s brother, but not really. He lived with them. She’d always wondered what had happened to his real parents. “How’d he die?” She asked, staring at the name ‘Jegd,’ and realizing she’d never heard it spoken before. “He was killed by a very bad man.” Her daddy answered, looking off into nowhere. “Oh,” she said again.

A sudden flash made her turn her head. Her daddy stood at his brother’s grave, with his palm outstretched toward the rose on top of it. There was light. That was the only way she knew to describe it. When the light faded, a magnificent rosebush surrounded the grave, leaving only the words uncovered.

It was beautiful.

As he began to do the same to the other graves, Ccae asked for the thousandth time, “Daddy, won’t you teach me to do magic?”

Her daddy smiled sadly. It was the first time she’d ever seen him smile in her entire life. “I’ll teach you tomorrow.”

The next day, her daddy passed away. He was twenty seven years old. The sign he’d altered the day before now told the truth. The last member of Boomside Battalion was no more. The oldest living person in the entire world was no more.

The Second Magician was no more.

And the Third Magician inherited a world that knew peace, just as her father had always hoped, and his father before him.

War had killed war. If only because there was nobody left to fight it