SPEAKER_00 0:04

And now Sam Row. Remember that? Oh turn left here. I said left angelica. I need to pause. I am exhausted.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Exhausted? I am carrying you, Oliver. Or did I miss something?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

I carried you for several weeks. It is only fair that you must now carry me. You are so immature and petty. And yes, I know. It takes one to know one in all of that. Yes, yes, I know. I have been giving my predicament some thought.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

This should be entertaining.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

I have several problems, not the least of which is that my own daughter wishes to see me dead, and with good reason, admittedly. The realm, however, only has one Ursula.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

I've already heard this story. We're aligned in the fact that she needs to be brought down. Where we're not aligned, it's in the whole part where you replace her and become twice the child of the nine that she is now.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yes. Well, that was before.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Before she completely betrayed you and stripped you of your magic?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yes. I've decided that she and I cannot be besties any longer. May I continue?

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Please do. I'm very entertained right now.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

I was wrong. I was wrong about everything. I suppose I needed to be brought low to truly see what I've become. But there will be time to wallow in my regrets later. For now, the realm must be protected. In order to protect it, we have two paths. Stop Ursula. Stop the five armies from attacking each other and Finn.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Ollie, I don't think we can unring that bell. That horse has left the barn. Those armies are going to converge and people are going to die.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

It's regrettable, but it is far more than regrettable. Angelica, I did this. I let my own pride manipulate me into and then I let fear cause me to. I have to do something. I realize that war is now inevitability, but there may be a way to keep the casualties to a minimum.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

How do we stop it, Ollie? We used the scrolls of malediction on useless, and he commanded those armies to march on thin. You said it yourself. The curse on that scroll was that it made his ability to hold the shapes he shifted into permanently. I thought about something after the fact, but it didn't really matter until now.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

I thought the same. I know where your mind has lingered too. The commands that Useless gave those armies are likely permanent as well. I watched him give the commands and saw the look in the eyes of those men and women as they marched out. Even if Useless were to command them to stop, they would not listen.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

Then how do we stop those armies from going to war?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

There are three possibilities. First, we could attempt to reverse the magic of the scroll. The problem we saw when we attempted to do similarly with Borocaine, though, was that the magic became permanent after seven days. We would have four to come up with a cure, and then we would have to distribute it to the totality of all five armies.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Option two?

SPEAKER_00 4:06

The second possibility is to kill the Archmages who wrote the Scrolls of Malediction. Magic rarely lives beyond the life of its caster.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Those scrolls are thousands of years old. You think that mage is still alive?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Is it so inconceivable? Your own sister was even older. Not only do I think he is alive, I believe that I actually know who he is.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Who is he?

SPEAKER_00 4:33

He is a man known as one thousand years, though that is a misnomer. He is far older than his nickname. He is arguably the most powerful magic user in Welkin.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

I thought that was you. Well used to be you.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

The only reason I could ever lay claim to that particular superlative was because he stopped casting several hundred years ago. He leads a cult now called the Agents of Thorn. The most feared and famous bounty hunter in Welkin, also known as the Ghost, he is a byproduct of their tender mercies. That cult of monks are part assassin, part warrior, and part magic user. Formidable indeed.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

What is their purpose? Why do they do what they do?

SPEAKER_00 5:28

I told you that purpose was a lie. When a man lives for more than ten centuries, what possible purpose could he have left to accomplish? Living in and of itself at this point is probably a burden for him. Think about it. Whom member he loved in his youth is now dead. I imagine he wants to die but probably cannot. Honestly, I never gave it much thought before now. They were never a real threat to me, and I like the idea of knowing that they existed in case I ever had need of them.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

So you're telling me that we have to take down an entire cult of monks and their ten plus centuries old ultimate magic user cult leader to reverse the power of the scrolls and stop those five armies?

SPEAKER_00 6:19

I am telling you that it is a possibility. If we kill one thousand years, it may change nothing. Scrolls work differently than memorized magic. Any fool with the ability to read can utilize the magical power of a scroll. It could be that instead of killing the writer of the scroll, we may need to kill the person who read the scroll to reverse the scroll's magic.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

But that was you, Ollie.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Which brings me to option three, I'm afraid.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Ollie, no. No. It has to be option two.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

A few hours ago you were more than ready to kill me when the time came, as I recall.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

And you know I would have, but I would have shed a tear. A whole tear. Just for me. Just for you, Ollie. You complete me.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Witty banter signed. You may not have a choice. I cannot ask you to take on the focused totality of the agents of Thorn. It would mean certain death for you. Killing me might stop the wars from ever starting and deny Ursula her army. Once I have arrived in hell, I might be able to gather forces to oppose her.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Ollie, I have been to hell. It's not a social gathering of all of Welkin's evil villains. It's a place of torment, pain, and eternal separation from Elon's love. When you go there you will be tormented. You think you're powerless and hopeless now? Just you wait.

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Then what do we do? I do not have a fourth option, my dear.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

I do. We tell Elon.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

That is rich. Have you lost your mind? Eljon will kill us both, and further, one does not simply ring a bell and expect the god of gods to come running. How are we supposed to even contact him? I have no powers now. I cannot utilize runes and rituals to contact Elysium. There is no known means to speak to a being so powerful.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Oh, I don't know. Prayer seems to work pretty well for us regular folks.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Hmm. Well, yes, that might work. Maybe I do not know how to pray. Do you know how to pray? And where does one pray?

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Honestly, I don't know how to either. I might know of someone who does, though. The problem is he is a long way from here. Even on horses, it would take us several weeks to ride to him. We need to teleport, and you're powerless right now. Not necessarily.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

When majors lose their powers, we do not lose the ability to perform magic. We simply lose the magical essence that resides inside of us. The knowledge, however, is permanent.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

So we need to replace your magical essence?

SPEAKER_00 9:16

That is not possible, I'm afraid. My powers are gone for good. However, there's a rare tool that mages in my predicament turn to. Are you familiar with magic dust?

SPEAKER_01 9:28

I know that mages from centuries ago used it quite a bit, but you don't see it very often anymore.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

That is because it can only be gathered from the ashes of things burned by dragon fire. Dragons have been extinct for centuries, so the resources of magic dust dried up with them. That is until recently.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Borrow Caine.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Precisely. There's magic dust in several places, not the least of which is Echo Village where Cane first struck. We are a two day ride from there. One day, if you run.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Are you seriously expecting me to carry you all the way to Echo Village?

SPEAKER_00 10:11

It is either that or you let all of those innocent, purpose driven people die.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

I can't stand you. No, I complete you. You completely disgust me. Come on. Hop on my back, old man. Hush up.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Angelica ran towards Echo Village with the provost on her back. Thamro and Jenna were chained to a caravan of souls by way of the collectors, Sindel and Baal Khan. The forces of Gath remained poised to strike against the rural city of Finn, and the four other armies continued approaching Finn with war on their minds. Could things get any worse for our heroes? Find out in the next exciting episode of Themroom.