This one needs a bit of an intro. I have ToaSW planned out pretty thoroughly, but don’t actually have much written. I wrote this back in 2015, and it’s just a little bit of what I’ve got in store for this unnamed character. One minor note, items in bold are defined “spells” that the Space Wizard has, which follow a specific ruleset. I may expand it into more than a series of unrelated shorts, but for now, this is all I’ve got. Enjoy!
And now, he is all alone. Fighting for survival in a hostile existence. Scavenging all resources he can find to stave off the inevitable grip of death. Will he find companionship? Will he find a way out of this living hell, this waking nightmare?
Stay tuned, dear reader, and you may learn more than your sanity can hold.
Stooping to tie his boot once again, the Space Wizard curses his predicament. Without a way to leave the sun-blasted desert of this barely habitable rock, he was effectively stuck. At the very least, his power over reality will sustain him for quite a while. Converting states of matter and manipulation of the elements is not quite the peak of the skills he learned, but is by far one of the most valued.
He completes the last entry for his previous log and stows his pad. Shielding his eyes from the sandy winds, he scans the horizon for a signs of a better direction to travel. Seeing nothing, he trudges down the dune to the next higher one. As he reaches the bottom, his foot is caught with a solid thunk and he falls into the sand.
Turning and examining the solid object his foot caught, the Space Wizard finds that it is not a naturally occurring object. As he brushes the sand away, he sees a green-blue marble edge begin to reveal itself from the sands. An etching of sorts sits along the side of this edge, perhaps words or images. Clearly he needed to learn more.
He stood and prepared his mind. Charging his propulse ability, he sets his feet and launches waves of kinetic force from his body across the sands, knocking the dunes around him into the air. The torrent of sand whirls around outward from the Space Wizard. After a minute or so, the sands have flung a half kilometer away. The marble object is now exposed.
A rectangular pad or platform sits facing the sky. The etchings line the entire rim of the enormous object, ranging from small simple symbols – likely words – to depictions of creatures and machines of unknown nature and purpose. Along the north-south edges, large cylindrical objects protrude just before the etchings. Are these … hinges?
Focusing and gazing through his eyes using subsight, he is able to make out a microscopic frame and a seam down the center of the platform. It definitely opens. Peering through subspace, he can see a few meters past the door, although no machinery or mechanism is apparent to open the door. Two of the etchings at the western edge of the door do appear to have some sort of grip or handle. Perhaps it can be opened? He needed to know.
Upon examination, his hands will not quite grip the handle. The angle at which the slope and curves sit prevent any amount of exerted manual force to move the immense slab of marble. Luckily, the Space Wizard has more than manual force at his command.
Using propulse once again, he lifts himself into the air. Bracing the force of his mind against the frame he pulls upward on the corner of one of the doors. The stubborn marble doesn’t budge. however, and the Space Wizard relaxes his control. Pulling a small needled vial from his belt, he gingerly places it against his temple. A sharp hiss and a prick of pain on his skin lets him know that his dose has been administered.
Waiting a moment, his mind is filled with energy. Taking another to pace himself, he braces his force against the frame once more and attempts to lift the door. With a sharp crack, the seam becomes visible to the naked eye, and the slab begins to creak open. In a moment, both doors are flung open, hitting the Space Wizard with a tremendous gust of stale wind. The cold gale rushes out and the doors slam against the sandy walls around it. The sound is deafening, The wizard is once again knocked to the sand.
A faint chirping begins to rise among the wind. Becoming louder as the wind quiets, the Space Wizard is filled with apprehension. Knowing nothing of what could be inside, he makes way to the edge of the opening to peer inside. Even using subsight, he can only see as far as he was able with the doors closed. Glimmers of light, perhaps reflections, began to dot the black chasm downward. A gyrating starfield of dots become larger and more active as the chirping gets louder.
As the chirping reaches its peak , the Space Wizard is now able to see the source. A thousand bat-like things, flit through the breeze that still comes from the chasm. Pulling away from the opening as a few of the creatures move towards him, the Space Wizard has no idea what it is he’s released. The fauna on this planet has been mostly insects and low invertebrates, and nothing he’s seen could fly. Yet, the bats dive out into the sunlight with confidence as they disperse into the sky. In a few moments, there is no trace of them.
A low rumbling sound comes from the hole behind him. The Space Wizard turns to peek once again down into the blackness, but is unable to see anything. A very faint glow can be seen, but the distance for this light source is nearly unimaginable. He lifts himself into the air and starts to lower himself cautiously into the hole. As soon as he crosses the aperture, he feels that gravity now pulls toward the west. Floating to that wall, he tests the strength of the new down. He stands on the wall.
Turning toward the opening, he looks straight up into the sky. He’s very aware of the rotation of the planet and the gravitational force of the sun it orbits. He would definitely need to study this location further, but another rumble turns his gaze to the center of the planet. The light source flickers twice.
As his subsight is now able to pierce the distance of the darkness, he can make out millions of shapes and carvings along the walls of the immense hallway. They glow like a violent isotope, but he detects no radiation from them. He continues to walk down the hall.
After a boring, anticlimactic walk, he notices that now there are other similar doors along the walls of the hallway. At first he thinks to open one, but he reconsiders while the main door to the sky is still open. After 20 or so sets of doors, he reaches the light source. A flat mirrored surface.
He reaches out and touches it, the cold metal or glass is smooth and abnormally flawless. his subsight reveals no marks of tools or machining, nor any imperfections from a smelting or glass shaping process. Even traces of energy-to-matter manipulation are absent. Looking into the reflection, he sees the faint light from the sun peeking into the deep pit. He looks at his face in the reflection, and making eye contact with his visual doppelganger, lets out a sigh and starts to turn away. But something stops him.
He looks down at what’s grasping his arm, and sees his own hand coming from the wall. The face of his reflection moves independently and the wall begins to bulge around it. The hand gripping the Space Wizard sprouts teeth and starts to chomp down, but he’s able to pull away before it breaks skin. Morphing grotesquely into another face, the hand shrinks back into the mirror. The mirror’s face continues to push forward, and other, smaller faces begin to grow out of folds in its skin and clothing. No longer a reflection of the Space Wizard, the faces continue to distend the wall and move toward him.
Stepping backwards causes the wall of faces to speed up, and to animate. They begin screaming, laughing, crying, moaning and yelling. Every emotion is present on this horrible thing, Multiple points continue to melt out from the mirror towards the Space Wizard. He turns and uses his propulse to expedite his retreat.
A thundering roar of emotion and breaking marble follows his escape. The lurching wall of faces churns and slams toward him. Turning to look at the freakish nightmare behind him, he sees that some of the faces are biting and licking his boot, then the light is gone. The echo of the slamming doors can be barely heard, as he looks forward once again. Blasting a few waves of energy behind him, the wall is only marginally slowed in its pursuit.
Subsight shows the walls cracking and disintegrating on the way up the long chasm. Gravity again begins to distort, and the pull is now towards the door to this cursed hallway. bits of marble race past the wizard as he turns to face the faces and blast more powerful waves of propulse at the creature.
Adding a few bolts of radiation, heat, and electricity, the wall slowed once again. The emotion of the faces still not showing any uniform expression or noise, it lurches forward again and again getting closer and closer to the Space Wizard. Firing another wave of propulse is cut short by hitting the closed door to the hallway.
Stunned from the impact, the Space Wizard has no time to react as the fall of faces slams into him. He feels biting, licking, kissing, and muffled yelling all over his body. Struggling to get away, his arms and legs are pinned by the monstrosity as the weight on him gains and gains. Unable to breathe, his head starts to thump with oxygen deprivation and he starts to fade from consciousness.
The full weight of the wall of faces is upon him, and the door flings open again. Able to breathe again, he forces himself away from the disgusting wall. Bits of his clothing and some blood fall from some of the mouths that were in contact with him, but he’d assess the damage later. Pummeling the monster with his powers as forcefully as he could failed to slow it now that it was in open air and able to expand. It slammed into him again as they fly at extreme speed into the sky.
Resorting to physically punching any faces that came near him, the Space Wizard was running out of mental energy to keep his powers active. Dismissing subsight and propulse, he focused on life preservation. Steeling his body with augment, a layer over his skin and clothing prevented any further damage or feeling. Given that they were now passing through the ozone layer, he used sustain to recycle and refresh all natural needs for his body. The wall continued to push him until they were both in space.
The wall of faces and the Space Wizard began to drift apart. Spinning slowly, the monster gazed at all the stars it could now see, and accelerated to incredible speed in a second away from the Space Wizard. What had he let out of what was either a prison or a tomb from this dead rock in space? Where was it going and what would it do?
How could he get home?
Find out more, next time in… Tales of a Space Wizard!
Berghammer's Forge 