The Dryad 80 Heroes

Learning that Maximus was not in the country shook me. Our leads had all led us here and we found nothing. Faun had to be running out of time and I came up with nothing. It had been half a year since she disappeared. I knew I would not be able to survive in a city that long. I never liked to say anything about it, but I was several times stronger than Faun. How would she fare after this long? I could not stop the tears from coming. I was grateful when Leafia's arm wrapped around me.

Seeing that I was not in a state to lead the conversation, Istan decided to take over. And in this case, I was again grateful. "Our friend that was taken has some special conditions. I am afraid that if we do not find her soon she will suffer greatly. Can you please tell us anything that might be useful?"

"I would be more surprised if she was not suffering," the old man said. I sucked in a gasp and felt my stomach turn.

Charles glanced toward me sympathetically, then said, "I will tell you everything I know, but I do not know if it will be any help. Ophelia, thank you. You may go." The maid offered a quiet curtsey at this dismissal and left the room. Charles settled back and closed his eyes for a moment. Then, with a long breath, he began his story.

"Maximus was one of my students many years ago at the magic a.s.sociation. Since I have known him, there is one thing that has always been on Maximus's mind. It was those children's fantasies of heroes, monsters and fay. As a child he would always have a book in his hand about some magician or great swordsman that would defeat some great dragon or evil fay. He would always proclaim as a child that he would become the greatest Hero in history. He was often teased for this, but he did not care.
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"As he got older, though, things changed. About his sixth year here, he started going through history books, searching for something. As his teacher, I pointed him to texts that seemed to match his questions. His curiosity about the past seemed insatiable. But the more he read, the darker his countenance became. After several months of this, one night he burst into my private rooms in a rage, yelling that he could never be a hero because there were no monsters or fay for him to fight." Despite the sorrow I found myself in, I was caught up in Charles's storytelling. His words flowed smoothly. I could only imagine that he had spent many years teaching others the secrets of magic. Part of me wanted to shout 'There is a fay right in this room, but it is not one that likes to get into fights.' But I knew that it would be extremely counter productive.

"It was around this point that he started causing trouble. He started picking fights with the other students. He didn't seem to care if they were older or younger than himself. By this time I had advanced from teacher of magic to Head of the Magic a.s.sociation. Many a time, Maximus was brought into my office for one scuffle or other. I remember one interview where I told him to try to find more productive ways to work with the people around him." Charles's face was troubled. "Maybe he took me too seriously. It was not long after that the fighting stopped. He was nearing the end of his time as a student, but agreed to stay on as a research a.s.sistant and advanced techniques student. I didn't realize then the extent of his disease. Maximus became more subtle and manipulative. His schemes grew more and more and more intricate. Framing one boy for stealing research while convincing another researcher that her boyfriend had been cheating and that she needed to get revenge. Through blackmail and treachery, he forced his fellow researchers and students to do things that would hurt other people. He would then swoop in and act like the n.o.ble hero to save the day. This got him some fans in the general public, but even more enemies.

"Most of these acts were not brought to my attention until well after the incident. I have to admit I was slightly blinded by my own greed. I had never seen such a gifted student. He always wanted to know more and quickly absorbed everything that was taught him. He also was prodigious in his research. He came up with many new concepts and perfected many others that we had been struggling with.

"I was hoping that he would find a love for magic itself and his little plays at being a hero would go away. Sadly his hunger never seemed to be satisfied. He started to perform cruel experiments using magic to distort living creatures. He would find stray animals and torture them with magic, twisting them in ways beyond imagination until they died." Charles noticeably shuddered.

"When I at last discovered what he was doing, I was horrified. I tried to stop him, but he would not listen. He said he was learning how the body worked and was looking for ways to save lives. His words held some merit, since he did show me how to use this new magic to strengthen the leg on a crippled dog, allowing it to function nearly like new. There was so much potential for good that could come from this magic, and again I was blind. I failed to put a stop to it, even though I did not agree with his methods.

"One day a dog that he was experimenting on escaped and ran wild. There was an unlucky little boy that was attacked and killed by the brute. The city guards arrived and killed the beast. The boy's parents managed to figure out that the dog came from Maximus's lab, and the next day they were knocking on the lab door demanding compensation for the death of their son.

"This is when Maximus seemed to completely snap. According to other researcher's accounts, he started yelling at the grieving parents, saying they needed to compensate him for the loss of his specimen and that the loss of one insignificant life was nothing. He then attacked the parents using his strange magic on them. As the Head, I was summoned along with several others to deal with this atrocity. My first role was to bring the Patrol. When I arrived with the guards, Maximus had a strong magical barrier erected. We could only watch in horror trying to dismantle his barrier while he killed both of the parents cruelly and then started trying to animate the mother's dead body." I felt chills run through me at these words. Death was supposed to lead to new life. It was never meant to be maintained. That would corrupt the order of the world. You could think of spirits as beings that maintained the natural order of the world, so the concept of reanimation was abhorrent in the extreme.

After a brief pause where Charles took a sip of his tea, he continued. "The whole time we were trying to dismantle his barrier to get to him, Maximus was shouting. 'I was this close to finally making one. I would finally be able to become a hero. But these fools had to go and kill it. I was about to have a breakthrough, but now my work is ruined. Do you all want to be forever stuck in this mundane world?' I tried to calm him down, to make him see the harm that his monstrous creations would cause. At first he seemed welcoming, but he swiftly turned against me and started to attack all of us. The whole time he was screaming like a madman about how he was destined to be the hero of the world and even the entire city was an insignificant price to pay for that destiny.

"It saddens me to say this, but I was no longer able to defeat him with my magic alone. But with the help of a few of my students and the city guards, we were able to drive him out of the city, leaving him with a large cut on his chin."

Gray added, "That explains the scar."

Charles nodded. "His specimens were put down as humanely as could be arranged, and his lab was closed permanently. All his research notes and equipment were seized by an enraged group of citizens and burned. That was the last time that I have had contact with him."

There was a heavy silence. Finally Istan asked, "How long ago did you say this happened?"

"Eight years."

Leafia spoke up softly for the first time in Charles's home. "Um, what exactly was Maximus trying to make?"

Charles blinked as he looked at her. "Creatures of nightmare. He wants to play the hero. So he was making monsters."