Star of Sakova

The old man stood in the shadows of his darkened home and peered out of the windows. He watched as another black shape flitted from tree to tree, outlined by only the light from the night stars. The city was long dark and the residents lay in various stages of slumber, awaiting the dawn to trudge onward to their daily tasks. Not so with Temiker, for he was accustomed to the nighttime hours. In fact, it was during the lonely stillness of the night that Temiker's bursts of inspiration arose out of the silence. If it were not for his students at the magic school he founded, Temiker would sleep the day through and arise at dusk as the night owl he felt himself to be.

The wizard ran his hand over his bald scalp and tried to make sense out of the stealthy movements occurring outside. The men surrounding his home appeared to know what they were doing, and what they were about was making sure that there was no way for him to escape. It was doubtful then that they intended to kill him, he thought as he fiddled with his beard. No, more likely they intended to capture him, but for what purpose? There was no wife to pay a ransom. In fact, he could think of no one in the city who would care if he disappeared, save his students. Temiker was a solitary individual, who while sociable, never went out of his way to make friends. He never bothered anybody and did not take kindly to others bothering him. His love was magic and what he wanted most out of life was to master it. His skill in the magical arts was well known and he was regarded as one of the best wizards in all of Omunga.

Another black shape slid across his view through a different window and Temiker knew his time was short. Moving swiftly and quietly through the dark room, as only its occupant could, Temiker grabbed the essentials he would need for an extended stay away from the home he had known for most of his life. In a few short moments, he gathered everything he would need and turned once again to the who and why of the attack. None of it made any sense to him. He could not recall anyone that he had offended since the fiasco at the Imperial Palace and that was years ago, certainly not what this attack was about. His concern drifted from himself to his students. He thought quickly about how they would all file into the schoolrooms in the morning and wondered if they would be in danger. Another task before he left then, he decided.

Turning towards his extensive library of magic books, Temiker raised his hands and began a complicated spell designed to protect his valuables in his absence. He could not bear to think of the destruction of his collection regardless of what else was looted or destroyed. Through his concentration, he heard the first sounds emanating from the invaders and his pulse quickened when he realized that he may have waited a bit too long. Finishing the protection spell, he whirled to see the face of an invader peering through the window, searching the darkness for the old man. He froze in the shadows and the man's head continued to swivel in its search.

Hoisting his backpack off the floor, Temiker started another incantation and the area around his feet began to fill with a thick rolling fog, billowing upward from his feet and swiftly filling the room with an eerie unnatural cloud waiting to burst out upon the city. With the final words of the casting, the cloud burst forth spewing through the windows and cracks around the door. With a speed that belied his age, Temiker danced over to the only windowless wall and pressed his hand flat against the pine slats. The boards warmed to his touch and then a door-sized section rippled, assuming a consistency much like the cloud within the room. Temiker stepped through and felt a light breeze fan his whiskers.