What makes a Sorcerer different from a Warlock? In this story that I am writing, a Sorcerer is someone born with inherent arcane magic potential, while a Warlock gains his/her magical abilities from outside forces, whether it be pacts with other beings, like demons or angels, or from rituals. Meanwhile, a wizard is someone who studies the art of magic and gains his/her magical abilities from intense studying. On with the story!
53 years before the events of the story: June 6, 642
"Congratulations Lady Rina! It's a boy!" The midwife smiled, congratulating a feeble looking woman on a bed.
"A boy?" The woman, Lady Rina Tyrell cried with joy. "This is more than I could ever wanted."
"What shall you name it My Lady?" The midwife asked, holding back her tears of joy for her Mistress's first successful birthing of a boy.
"I don't know." Rina cried. "I'm too happy to think." Rina continued her crying for quite some time, until eventually, a middle aged man entered the room. He was wearing robes of a nobleman. They were long, flowing robes made of a deep purple silk. Anyone could tell that he was of the upper echelons of society.
"Lord Tyrell!" The midwife yelled, shocked. "I thought you were supposed to be away, My Lord!"
"When I heard my wife was giving birth now, I rode over here as fast as I could." The lord replied.
"Allister. Look, a boy!" Rina cried, holding the child up. "We finally have an heir!"
"Thank the Gods for this!" Lord Allister started crying too. "We've been waiting for this moment for ten long years now. What should we name him?"
"I don't know." Rina cried, with a small chuckle. "I was hoping you would have an idea."
"Well." Allister started stroking his small beard, pondering what name would be best for his first son. "How about Rowan?"
"Lord Rowan Tyrell. It's a beautiful name." The midwife commented. "He'll grow to be a magnificent Lord, just like you My Lord."
"I know he will." Allister smiled, trying to hold back his tears of joy. The three adults and one newborn sat in the room, waiting for Lady Rina to recuperate. She couldn't return to her estate until she was strong enough, and that takes quite a while.
After about one hour of sitting, resting and crying, the midwife got up to leave. She had to attend to another birth. She left respectfully, and left the Lord, Lady and their son alone. As soon as the door closed, leaving the three isolated in the room, it started to get very hot. Allister and Rina started sweating profusely, yet little Rowan seemed unperturbed by the heat. The heat continued to intensify, causing Allister and Rina to start to lose consciousness. Still, Rowan seemed fine. Once they were on the edge of consciousness, the heat disappeared, being replaced with a strange sight. A tall, muscular, angelic figure stood at the doorway. "Lord and Lady Tyrell. Please heed my warning." The figure started.
"What do you mean? What have we done?" Allister stuttered, using all of his strength to force out the words.
"This child, you must get rid of him." The figure stated. "He will bring doom unto us all."
"We cannot! We refuse!" Rina screamed. "He's our son! We'll raise him to do no such thing!"
"Nothing you can do will change the future." The angelic figure stated. "You must."
"No!" Allister yelled. "We cannot kill our only son!"
"If you will not, I will." The angelic figure started, reaching towards Rowan. As if there was a wall between the angel and him, the angel's hand stopped in place. "This is bad. He's already using magic."
"What do you mean?" Allister asked frantically.
"That heat you felt before, that almost made you collapse, was caused by Rowan. Now, there seems to be a barrier stopping me from doing anything." The angel started. "Now, to answer the unasked question. 'Why do we need to get rid of him?' Legend foretold of a sorcerer who single-handedly destroyed many kingdoms of long ago. A prophecy was recently made that stated that a child born on June 6, 642, in the Kelper Kingdom would be the reincarnation of that sorcerer, and that he will destroy this, among with many numerous kingdoms. We needed to stop all births today before anything could happen. Today was our first unsuccessful stopping, and we now know that it will be Rowan. There's nothing we can do now that he's been born." The angel started to look hopeless, like everything he tried to accomplish was for naught.
"You're accusing me of giving birth to someone who will destroy kingdoms!" Rina cried. "He's mere hours old! He's done nothing wrong!"
"He almost killed you two!" The angel yelled. "But, there's no more hope. For now, try to make sure he never uses magic. Raise him far away from anything remotely magical."
"We'll try." Allister reassured the angel, before he disappeared as quickly as he appeared. "Our son will destroy us?"
"I hope not." Rina smiled. "I still think we can raise him like the good Lord he should be." The family hugged each other, trying to forget about the inevitability of the prophecy, holding on to a shred of unjustified hope.
24 years later: June 6, 666
A young man woke up in his bed. This young man was Lord Rowan Tyrell. He walked over to his washroom, where he was able to take a good look at himself. It's been a while since he cut his hair, so his long, deep brown hair flowed down to his shoulders. Some people told him that the hair worked, and he kind of agreed. Meanwhile, on his face, there was nothing. Not a single hair trying to be a beard or mustache ever showed. Like his father, Rowan was raised to be a rider and fighter, and he had the build for it. A strong, athletic build showed on his body. The ladies of the land all wanted to marry him, seeing how he was considered one of the most attractive unmarried Lords in the Kingdom of the Kelper Mountains, sometimes called the Kelper Kingdom. This was probably due to his main unique feature: His violet eyes. Some people believed he was blessed as a child, which is why he had these eyes, but he just believed that it was just uncommon. The one problem was that Rowan had no interest in marriage, much to the chagrin to his parents. Being the only son of the Tyrell family, he was the only one who was able to inherit the family's status. His only other sibling, 30 year old Lady Barbara Tyrell (Now Lady Barbara Regan) married when she was only 18, and has since had 3 children.
After bathing, he got dressed. Today was his 24th birthday, and he knew he needed to look formal. He decided to go for his usual formal attire. Violet, silk robes, with the insignia of his family right over his heart. The insignia was of a dragon roaring. Some people called the Kelper Kingdom "The Kingdom of Dragons", considering that every noble family had a sign of a dragon doing something different. Roaring, breathing fire, flying, etc. Legend also states that the first dragons ever sighted were in the Kelper Mountains. As Rowan was putting on his shoes, he felt something strange in his stomach. Rather than being a stomach ache, it felt different, as if something was welling up inside of it. After a minute, it went away. "Strange." He thought to himself, as he finished lacing up his shoes. The last thing Rowan needed to do was put his crown on his wavy, chocolate brown hair. In the Tyrell family, even the children have small crowns. It wasn't much, but it still showed the status of the family. The Tyrell family has been close with the King of Kelper, aptly named King Kelper, for hundreds of years. In fact, if the King has no proper heirs, the next family in line for the throne was the Tyrell family.
Once he were complete dressed, Rowan walked down into the dining room of the castle, where the whole Tyrell family was waiting. Uncles, cousins, aunts, any many other people he didn't know were there. "Happy Birthday Rowan!" His father yelled, holding two short, steel swords. "After watching you grow up and fight, we've noticed your affinity with short swords, especially using two at the same time. Thus, we got you these for your birthday!" Rowan was overjoyed. He was never a fan of the politics of being a noble. He always wanted to be a fighter. As he picked up the two swords, Rowan couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you Father." He smiled.
"Only the best for you, my son." Allister replied. "The smith said that these might be his best work ever. I hope you can put them to good use."
"I will Father." Rowan smiled, hugging his father. Once again though, the strange feeling appeared. This time, it was in his head. Rowan dropped the swords down and clutched his head.
"Rowan! Are you okay?" Rina asked, rushing to his side.
"Yeah. I just have a headache." Rowan started, before screaming out in pain. "AAAAAAHHH!!!!" He screamed. The strange feeling intensified, and spread around the rest of his body.
"What's happening!" One of Rowan's uncles yelled.
"MY WHOLE BODY IS PAIN!" Rowan screamed incoherently. "WHAT IS HAPPENING!"
"Someone get a nurse!" Rina yelled. "SOMEONE!!!"
"I'm on it Sis!" Rina's sister yelled.
"Rowan. Everything will be fine." Rina cried, holding him tight. After about twenty minutes of excruciating pain, it left.
"Mother?" Rowan asked.
"Yes?" Rina replied desperately.
"I feel weird." Rowan muttered feebly. As soon as he finished, the feeling returned. This time, though, it was almost pleasing. It felt as though power was rushing into his system, filling Rowan full of energy. While this was going on, he started to float into the air.
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE GODS IS HAPPENING!!!" The nurse, who just arrived, yelled.
"We should have known." Allister said, starting to cry. "When Rowan was born, an angel told us that there was a prophecy stating that Rowan would be the reincarnation of a powerful sorcerer, hellbent on destroying the kingdoms of the land. Rowan would repeat that history. There was nothing we could do to stop it. The angel tried to kill him, when he was only two hours old, and even he couldn't do it. Everyone run before anything bad happens!" Immediately, everyone started running out of the dining room in every direction. However, every door seemed to be shut by some unknown force. Rowan's magic was starting to be unleashed.
Once Rowan reached about ten feet in the air, he stopped continuing up, and the flooding of power stopped. This left him feeling full of power and energy. Energy to do anything. But, something else started to happen. A new feeling began. As Rowan floated in the air, flying, a strange voice echoed in his head. "You know what to do Rowan." It said. As if by instinct, Rowan lifted his hands into the air. As they moved, dark purple energy flowed around them. Once the energy reached directly above his head, it formed into a ball, about one foot across.
"I'm sorry everyone." Rowan cried as the last bit of humanity was squeezed out of his mind. He shot the ball of energy down, causing everyone in the room to die immediately. Rowan lowered himself downward, looking at the carnage he caused. Rather than being terrified at the fact that he just massacred his entire family, he felt good. He picked up the two short swords, and made them disappear with his magic. It was almost as if he knew everything about arcane magic, something he only thought existed in fairy tales. Yet here he was, using magic. It felt good to use.
As Rowan pondered what just happened, the voice appeared again. "Good Rowan. You've done well.""
"Who are you?" Rowan asked into the air.
"I am you. You heard your father. You are the reincarnation of me. I am you, and you are me." The voice continued. "Many years ago, I was known as Falcour. I was a sorcerer who caused mass destruction in the world. You will continue in my footsteps, bringing destruction everywhere you go."
"Why?" Rowan asked desperately. "Why will I be killing so many people? I want to fight for justice!"
"Yet justice will fight against you." Falcour responded, almost sounding like he was laughing. "Rowan, you were destined to become a God among men, raining terror across the land. All will try to stop you, and none shall succeed."
"But why!" Rowan cried. "Why will I do this?"
"Because fate has decided this." Falcour laughed. "Rowan. My sweet, innocent Rowan. Just accept your fate. The surge of power you just experienced was your 'awakening'. It will take many years before you gain the strength you are destined to achieve. However, the years will flow by like hours."
"What do you mean?" Rowan asked, trying to calm himself down.
"Rowan, you are immortal. You cannot die." Falcour answered. "Like myself."
"What?" Rowan yelled, shocked. "I can't die?"
"You body may die, like mine did after hundreds of years, but your spirit will live on, causing the world to live by your rules." Falcour explained. "You will live, hundreds, if not thousands of years. I sense your potential. It's far greater than mine was. You will make me seem as powerful as a mouse."
"I guess there's no point in arguing anymore." Rowan said depressedly. "This is my fate. There's no changing it. I just need to accept it."
"That's the attitude!" Falcour responded proudly. "I will only be able to stay in your mind for a short time, so until then, I will help you hone your magical powers to become the most powerful sorcerer imaginable. You will be a God among men."
"If you say so." Rowan responded full of grief, as the power once welled in him started to flow out of him, leaving just a small amount.
The "Present": October 23, 695
"Just need to finish this last equation!" You said, slaving over your math homework, studying for a huge test tomorrow. "Just... need.. to... zzzzzz" You fell asleep, pencil still in hand. When you woke up, rather than being at your desk, you were in a large room. As you looked around, you noticed that everything seemed antique. There were no lights, just a couple of candles. The walls were all stone, and in front of you was a large fireplace. It was like one of the castles in Game of Thrones. (Yes, that's why I decided the last name Tyrell).
"Welcome Kevin. I've been waiting for you to awaken." A voice stated. You couldn't see where this voice was coming from, but you sensed power behind it. "There is no reason to be alarmed."
"Where am I?" You asked, looking around more at the room. You noticed many bookshelves all full of books.
"You are in my castle." The voice replied. You couldn't see the source of this voice anywhere. "You may be wondering where I am."
"Yeah. I'd like to know that." You replied, both in a concerned and scared manner.
"I'm right in front of you." The voice chuckled. Immediately, a young looking man appeared in front of you. He had long, flowing chocolate brown hair, stopping at his shoulders. His eyes were a deep violet, an eye color you've only seen on Elizabeth Taylor. But his meant business. There was a mystery to his eyes. They seemed to glow like a flame, full of power, might, and control. He wore mostly black robes, with some hints at the dark purple of his eyes, with a roaring dragon on the part over his heart. At his waist were two sheaths, one on each side of his body, for short swords. The hilts looked beautiful and very well crafted. He seemed like a very attractive man.
"Who are you?" You asked, trying to get up and run away.
"There's no point in escaping." The man said in a very calm manner. With a flick of his wrist, you were held completely motionless. "My name is Rowan Tryell. I summoned you here. I am on my way to becoming the most powerful sorcerer in history. While I may appear to be only 24, in reality, I've lived for 53 years now. On my 24th birthday, I became immortal and stopped aging."
"Why did you summon me here, or is this all some weird dream?" You asked, wondering why that thought never occurred to you.
"I can assure you that this is real." Rowan laughed. "Every sorcerer needs a familiar, and I was getting lonely. I felt that the time to get one was right about now, so I whisked you out of your plane and brought you here, for me to transform you into my familiar."
"Familiar?" You asked.
"Oh right, your plane doesn't have magic." Rowan laughed. "While your plane excelled in creating technology, mine evolved using magic. Sorcerers, wizards, warlocks, and anyone else who can use magic has a familiar. Once they are powerful enough, they summon a being from another plane, and transform them into a magical companion. Once I transform you, you will be a magical being. Understand?"
"NO!" You yelled.
"Too bad, there's no turning back." Rowan laughed, his eyes feeling like they were looking into your soul. With another flick of his wrist, you were raised into the air, with a strange green energy surrounding you. It felt oddly comforting. You didn't even notice that your entire body was getting covered in dark blue scales. You didn't notice your fingernails becoming ebony claws. You didn't notice two ebony horns grow out of your head. You didn't notice your muscles swell until they were huge, but not inconvenient. What you did notice though, was your stance shifting to a quadrupedal stance, your legs becoming more digitigrade, and the wings sprouting from your back. Soon, you were a full fledged dragon. You were close to 7 feet long from head to tail, and felt a huge amount of power in your system. You roared, fire bellowing out of your mouth towards Rowan, engulfing him. Rowan showed no sign of discomfort from the fire. "The transformation was perfect." Rowan smiled from the flames. As you stopped spitting fire, you noticed that Rowan was completely unharmed by the flames. Not even his clothes or hair showed any kind of damage. Meanwhile, behind him, some stone looked melted. "You might be a small dragon, but you are as powerful as a full grown one now. Now what to name you. I don't like Kevin..." Rowan chuckled.
"So this is who I am now?" You asked.
"Yes. I think I'll name you Gannoth." Rowan smiled. "You will refer to me as Master or Master Rowan. I will tell you once you are able to address me informally."
"Yes Master." You replied. "Might I ask what Gannoth means?" You noticed that your language has become much more elegant and polite.
"In the magical language of dragons, it means power." Rowan responded. "Power is what I seek, and together, we will achieve my ultimate goal."
"What is that goal Master?" You asked curiously.
"It's simple." Rowan responded laughing. "Chaos. I was brought into this world to spread chaos and terror." You gulped. He said there was no reason to be alarmed, and yet he terrified you. "Gannoth, there's something else I need to tell you."
"What is it, Master?" You asked.
"If you even dare go against me, you will suffer punishments worse than death for the eternity we will both live." Rowan responded. "You will soon understand my way of thought, and learn to accept your role in spreading terror around the lands."
"I understand Master." You responded. Secretly, back when you were just a normal kid, you dreamt about gaining power, and using it to spread your own form of justice. Now you have that power, but will be using it for evil. Sometimes, you had dreams of going mad with power. It seemed terrible, yet enjoyable. It seemed that you were heading down that path.
"Gannoth!" Rowan yelled, interrupting your thoughts.
"Yes Master?" You responded.
"We're going to need to train your powers soon. Right now, you're full of magical energy, but have no idea how to use it. It's time to learn." Rowan smiled, waving his hand for you to follow him deeper into his castle.
End of Chapter.
Note: Rowan is basically pure evil. All of his morality has been lost for years. You (Gannoth) on the other hand, can be evil or neutral/evil. (Not quite evil, but not neutral either. Somewhere in between. Don't stray farther than that.) The alignment in the suggestions/future chapters reflect your alignment.
Thank you for reading!
Llamas2000