The Society of Nephrem

Matthew quickly recovered from his awe of the floating angel. "Who is Salgathar?" His eyebrows were knit tightly in a questioning manner.

Flodella was still hovering in front of the moving wagon. Drindle breathed in deeply through his nose. When he snapped them open he looked at Matthew. "Salgathar, was the friend of my master. My master, Dachi, taught all of the Nephrem before the fall of Angels and Daemons." Drindle paused for a moment before speaking again. "We have no time for a story, You must notify Galorian that Wastrial is under a grave threat." The wagon never ceased moving as the old man breathed deeply. "At this point if my assumption is correct and Salgathar's summoning process was perfected the entire realm could be destroyed."

Matthew and Nora both had a quizzical expression. Matthew was the first to speak. "What do you mean? Why would the realm be destroyed?"

"Listen, Galorian will fill you in on the details he finds pertinent. When he was my apprentice I taught him about Salgathar and he knows the name." the old man looked at Matthew with a serious expression. "Just contact him and let him know, that I believe Salgathar's methods are to blame for the current situation. I don't think we have much time before something happens."

Lionel jumped at hearing Galorian was Drindle's apprentice. "Your kidding me..." Was all the boy could say before Drindle looked him in the eye.

" There is much I want to say but I fear we don't have a lot of time." The old man looked at the Angel still hovering nearby. "Flodella, I want you to take Lionel with you to the Library. I will hold off any pursuers."

Lionel butted in "What do you mean? I thought we were going together."

Drindle looked back at Lionel a calm expression was on his pale wrinkled face. "The Library has been enchanted by all of the Nephrem. You will be safe there until I can arrive." The old man reached into his robe and pulled out a small ring. The bushy eyebrows of Drindle rose into a serious expression. "Keep this on you always." Lionel grasped the ring and looked into the crystalline eyes of Drindle searching for answers.

"Flodella.."

Lionel was about to speak when two strong pristine arms wrapped around his waist. " Wh.. What are you doing?" Lionel didn't understand what was going on. The angel, Flodella, had scooped Lionel off of the driver's bench and was already flying towards the north. He peered toward the wagon, shrinking in the distance. "What happened?..."

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Drindle watched the flying figures growing smaller by the second. He breathed in deeply and looked to his left. Nora had her eyes closed and looked like she was speaking to someone who wasn't present.

"Why didn't you give us time to reach out to Galorian before sending Lionel off? This was not part of the agreement." Matthew's face showed signs of irritation.

"It couldn't be helped. There are more than three hundred Gardgans and at least one hellhound after us." Drindle spoke matter of factly while reaching into his dull black robe.

Matthew's face was shocked. "How do you know that? Even still those numbers aren't a match for the three of us."

Drindle pulled a small locket out of his robe. He opened in while speaking. "To me Kamatsu" a faint trace of sweat beaded his brow as black smoke rose out of the locket. The smoke streamed into the cargo space of the wagon. An ominous aura chilled the surrounding area.

a clink of armour could be heard before a deep male voice spoke. "My Liege"

Drindle spoke towards Matthew. "I sense the underbeings. We have a lead of a few hours at most." The old man closed his eyes and breathed deeply again. When he opened them he looked at Matthew seriously. "Matthew, if I am right we will have a lot more to worry about than the underbeings. I am not sure what this person wants with the amulet, but we must protect Lionel until he reaches the Library." The old man then directed his attention toward the smoky black figure kneeling in the cargo area of the wagon. "Kamatsu, I want you to thin the number of enemies. Do not let yourself get destroyed or exercised. If you run into a human, flee and report it to me immediately."

Drindle finished speaking and the smoky figure clapped his incorporeal hand against his chest. a clink of metal was heard "Yes my Lord". As Kamatsu finished speaking his body turned fully into smoke and dissipated out the back of the moving wagon.

"How many velthums do you have?" Matthew spoke while eyeing the remnants of the fading black smoke.

The only response the old man gave was, "Enough"

As Drindle finished speaking Nora snapped her eyes open. A trace of fear could be seen in her expression. Her face was slightly pale and her voice quivered as she spoke "The Eastern Empire is attacking Kylia"

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Flodella was flying quickly. Her wings were membranous with white feathers interspersed. Lionel tried to study them to get his mind off his concerns. He was worrying about the current situation, and nothing was working to calm him down. He shook his head trying to order his thoughts. Seeing the ground so far below freaked him out and added fuel to his emotional instability.

'Who is Salgathar? What Method of summoning was Drindle talking about? I can't believe Galorian was his apprentice? Why didn't he tell me?' The boy's thoughts kept running in circles but he could find no answers. everything pointed back to Drindle keeping him in the dark about different subjects. He stared at the dark metal ring on his finger while feeling his irritation boil. His frustration finally spilled over into a yell. "Why did he send me on my way without telling me anything?!"

A soft beautiful voice spoke near Lionel's ear. The angel Flodella had her arms wrapped around Lionel's stomach. His back was to her chest plate armor. She was taller than Lionel which put her mouth just above his ear. "There was an ambush that he was walking into. He had to get you to safety." The soft voice spoke matter of factly and surprised Lionel.

"What kind of ambush? Why didn't he tell me?" The boy knew that the beautiful being wouldn't be able to answer his questions but still he tried.

Flodella merely remained quite. Her mannerisms seemed regal and refined as boy continued his barrage of questions. Lionel finally wore himself out of questions about Drindle and instead asked one that he hoped the angel could answer.

Lionel clung to Flodella's arm. "How long before we arrive at the Library?"

The angel's soft voice tickled his ear as she spoke. "At our current velocity it should be before tomorrow's nightfall."

Lionel peered towards the sun, it was strange being so high in the air and it made it difficult for him to discern the time of day. He thought It was currently a little past noon. Drindle had said the Library was about a month's journey from Kylia but, they had only been on the road for a little more than a week. The old fart hadn't let them make camp during that time frame and instead drove Harthling on. 'It should still be at least two weeks until we get to the library, just how fast are we flying.'

The boy was worried about Drindle and the ambush that was awaiting him. He rubbed the dark metal ring subconsciously. Now that Lionel thought about it the geezer had become more and more irritated as they rode from Kylia. Only now did the boy realize that there was probably someone following the wagon. Since someone followed them to Kylia that same person must have realized that they left the city and immediately pursued them. Lionel wondered if his pursuer would realize he wasn't in the wagon anymore. That thought made his stomach knot up.

The angel and Lionel flew on towards the north. There were mountains that seemed to grow larger by the second. Lionel recalled the map of Slydall. 'If I remember correctly that would be the Broken Tooth mountains.' The boy only recalled Drindle saying that the Grand Library was hidden within it's peaks. He closed his eyes and willed himself to calm down, he knew no good would come of being stressed out.

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Drindle Breathed in Deeply with his eyes closed. The environmental magic filled his nose painting a picture in his mind of everything with a two kilometer range. He had been wrong. There were more than a thousand gardgans following them and more than ten hellhounds. 'This is going to be rough' He thought while opening his eyes. Matthew rode beside him with Nora leading his horse. They were still traveling quickly but the old man knew that there was no point. The gardgan's were faster and could outrun a horse. Harthling had traveled almost a week with little to no rest. Drindle pulled the reins and brought his steed to a rest. He stepped down off the wagon paying no mind to the grumblings of Galorian's buttwigs. This seemed as good a place as any. He patted the hind quarters of Harthling while breathing in deeply again.

*

Matthew watched as Drindle pulled the reins on the horse. 'What is this insane old man doing? why isn't he speeding up if we are in such danger?' The old man stood and stepped down from the wagon. Matthew couldn't understand so he spoke the only questions that came to mind. "Drindle what are you doing? Why are we just stopping here?"

The old man paid him no attention as he patted the horse and breathed in deeply. A faint shiver of fear ran down Matthew spine when the old man opened his eyes and spoke.

"Prepare yourselves, They're here."