NOTE: Gothic is sole property to Piranha Bytes Software. This is in no way what the Piranha Bytes team created. This story is merely fan-fiction and has nothing to do with the sequel, Gothic2. Enjoy!!

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"Welcome, I'm glad that you have come. As you know my name is Xardas, and I helped to bring down the magic barrier that enclosed the once productive ore mines of Khorinis. You have come to learn of my choice to study the Dark Arts. Here is my story."

"It happened very long ago; in the first few years after our imprisonment, the Mages of Water and the Mages of Fire went their separate ways when the camps broke up. These reasons were not for petty differences, oh no, those started later. Anyway, when the King's former general, Lee, helped to form The New Camp near a new found ore mine, the Mages of Water followed. Their main reason to break off from the Fire Mages was to help keep the peace between the camps. Everyone listened to mages because they had two things going for them: power, and knowledge. The power of mages is an unimaginable thing. We alone have the power to call on the magic runes, inscribed upon them is the basis of our power. Our knowledge is world-renowned, for even lords of great lands such as King Rhobar himself frequently called upon a mage for guidance.

When the New Camp was finally established, all of the mages made an agreement. They were to, no matter what, search for a way to escape the barrier. The Mages of Water had the idea that the barrier could be blasted off with a large magical explosion, hence their reason for having their own mine. The ore, as you know, has great magic power, and the Mages of Water found that it, if detonated properly, could send out a magic shockwave that could completely destroy the barrier, but leave every living thing inside untouched. It was much later that I decided to leave the Old Camp and start my new life in the Orc Lands. It really started when…"

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I called Corristo, my apprentice, to my chambers.
"Master, you summoned me?" were his first words.
"Yes," I said, "I have made a decision for the well-being of all in The Colony. I am leaving you in control of the guild.""But Master! You cannot leave! We need you here!" shouted Corristo in response.
I shook my head and said, "I have taught you everything you need to know, young apprentice. I knew this day would come, ever since I took interest in the Dark Arts-"
I was sharply cut off by Corristos shout.
"By the Gods! Have you gone mad? If one word of this reaches the Great Council-"
"I will be banished, an exile. A Necromancer. As I was saying, I suspect that the secret to opening the barrier lies in the Dark Arts, the 6th and greatest circle of magic. Even before I took you on as my apprentice, I was pondering this alternative," I finished for him.

"I am sorry Master, but I don't think I am ready to lead the guild…and the camp," replied the timid mage.
"Oh, you are ready. It was evident to me that you are at the peak of your skill, when that beast, the Ice Golem, appeared in the camp, you were the only one with the wits and skill enough to defeat it. That was when I made my decision," I stated with obvious pride in my voice.
"You…you summoned that golem as…"
"A test. A test that you passed with the highest of honors," I cut him off as I reached into a chest and pulled out a High Robe of the Circle of Fire.
Speechlessly, Corristo bowed down low, the feelings of pride and shock evident on his face. I reached down and placed my hand on my former apprentice's head and spoke the words of the ancient rite.

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"That was how Corristo rose to power as the High Mage of the Circle of Fire. Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday. Anyway, slipping out of the camp was easy enough. I just told that guards that I was going hunting. I stopped by Cavalorn's hut to say 'Hi' before I changed into my new robes. These robes were made right from my own imagination. Stone, the Old Camp's head smith, took some ore out of my private stock and made silk-like threads out of it. From these I designed a robe of exceptional power. Hardened, steel-core leather along with normal robes made out of this "ore thread" made for an amazingly powerful robe. Indeed, it even glowed with its own aura of power. Alright, that's enough about the robe."

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I slipped into the Orc Lands under cover of night. Pacho, the pass guard, was asleep as suspected. I armed myself with a Berserker's Word bastard sword that I had grown quite partial to. Even though I was a mage, I quickly befriended a Shadow trainer named Scatty. Scatty taught me the basics of swordsmanship and I taught him how to do the most basic spell scrolls. A pretty even trade, if you ask me. My Word at my side, I pulled out a scroll of my own design. I felt my body cringe and the hairs on my neck stick up as I read that type of scroll for only the second time in my life. My first use of this magic was in self-defense when I found myself on that same hunting path as two Orc Hunters.

As I read the last syllable on the parchment, the ground began to rumble and shake. For the second time in my life I saw three skeletons, two warriors and a scout, seem to grow from the ground. The closest warrior and I locked gazes for a small moment before the Scout made a series of loud clicks at his comrades. Suddenly all three of them broke into a run straight at me. I crouched and rolled out of the way just as a massive orc dog made an attacking leap over me.

I sprang to my feet and unsheathed my Word in one fluid motion. The leaping orc dog regained its posture and made another attack, which was ended by a quick swing of my Word to its throat. I turned to see my undead warriors fighting with a small hunting pack of orc dogs. To my horror, my scout crumbled under the weight of a pouncing orc dog. My adrenaline pumping, I instinctively pulled out my ceremonial dagger and threw it at the beasts responsible for killing my scout and, to my great surprise, the light dagger struck true, and hard. With a furious yelp, the dog ran off along the path deep into the orc lands.

"Damn it, I liked that dagger." I mumbled as I sheathed my word and pulled out another summon scroll. In moments, three more skeletons, all warriors, were jumping into the fray with the dogs. As I could tell 1, about ten dogs remained standing. I couldn't count the slain.

Sword in hand, I made a lunge at the nearest orc dog, thrusting my Word through its gullet. Suddenly I was lying on the ground, belly down, the massive weight of an orc dog holding me down 2. Consciousness left me as a muscular paw beamed the back of my head just behind and above my right ear.

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I was awake, but I didn't open my eyes yet, it hurt too much. I could tell that it was late morning or mid day by how bright red the insides of my eyelids were. My eyes fluttered open and I instantly knew that I was in Cavalorns hut.
"Cav, he's waking up!" shouted a familiar voice.
"Pacho? Pacho is that you?" I asked, my vision not yet clear.
Cavalorn walked in with some fresh bandages and a bowl, emanating from which was a smell very similar to Snafs "famous" Meatbug Rague.
"Man, you got some major explaining to do my friend, but first things first," replied Pacho.
The next few minutes were spent replacing the blood-caked bandages that were wrapped around my aching head."Here, drink this, it'll make you feel better," said Cavalorn, shoving the steaming bowl under my nose.
"No offense, but I have something better. Where are my robes?" I said, pushing the bowl back to Cavalorn.
"Here," said Pacho as he dropped a bundle on my lap. I rummaged through the bundle until I found my pouch belt. "Bottoms up," I said, lifting a red, slightly glowing bottle to my lips. The effects of the health potion were instant. Moments after the smooth liquid reached my stomach I was on my feet putting my robes on and stretching my once-aching limbs.

"I'll never get used to those things," mumbled Pacho, referring to my health potions.
"You said I had some explaining to do?" I asked Pacho.
"Yes," he pulled out my sword, "first, since when does a mage carry one of these around?" he asked.
"A mage would carry one of those around when he didn't have the time to concentrate in the middle of a heated battle," I said proudly, sheathing my Berserkers Word.
"Second," Cavalorn butted in, "what in the hell kind of a reason would you have for going into the Orc Lands? After dark, no less," he put in, pointing to the skinned orc dog roasting over the cook fire.
"I have left the Mages of Fire and the Old Camp so I could study Necromancy, the Dark Arts," I stated reluctantly, fidgeting with the summoning scrolls in my pouch.
Cavalorn and Pacho just stood there, gaping. "Th…Th…" Cavalorn stuttered then corrected himself, "The Dark Arts? Have you gone ma-"
"Don't even start!" I snapped at him, "I've heard everything there is to know about it from Corristo."

Pacho stepped in before Cavalorn could throw in a fresh remark. "Well, this explains our friend here. We…err…I found him standing in the middle of a pack of dead orc dogs." He motioned to a tree about twenty-five yards away that I hadn't noticed yet. From one if it's sturdiest branches hung a very, very angry skeleton warrior. "He put up one hell of a fight when I tried to pick you up and carry you here the first time," Pacho added, lifting up his slashed tunic 3. Though he was bandaged thoroughly, the wound bled through just enough to indicate that it hurt, very badly. A long, red streak went from his left shoulder down to his right side.

"Oh…ouch…sorry about that. He was trying to protect me, the reason for his existence. He must have thought you were causing me harm when you picked me up," I responded to his obvious dislike of my minions. I offered him a potion for his wounds but he somberly refused.
"Ur-Sh…ugh…I managed to get you on my shoulder and run you here, but skelly was hot on my heels. I arrived shouting for Cav here to wake up. I set you on the straw bed as Cav kept skelly busy. I ran up behind him with a rope that I had anchored to the tree branch and looped it around his legs. I got it tight and hoisted him up with ease 4." Pacho stumbled, obviously hiding something.
"Alright, don't try and hide it. Who helped you other than Cavalorn?" I questioned him.

"Well…um…yea…Oh hell with it. I met an Orc Shaman when I was on duty one day. I attacked him but he just leapt away. He said he didn't want to hurt me, that he was an outcast from his village and had to leave. He then told me a story about how he had escaped and ore mine under a "village in hollow". That was when I noticed that he wasn't leaving, oh no, but going into the Orc Lands. He way coming in from the direction of the New Camp so I figured that was what he referred to," Pacho explained, first hesitantly, but he started growing more comfortable as he saw that I seemed to be happy at what I was being told.
"When you were fighting the orc dogs," he continued, "I woke up from what seemed to be an earthquake. I heard the clash of battle and rushed to find an orc dog on your back. Ur-Shak was happily walking along the path for his own reason when he say me attack the orc dog that was about to kill you. Ur-Shak ran up and simply picked up the dog and threw it off 5. After the orc dogs were killed was when I picked you up. The previously unnoticed skeleton leaped at me in attack," Pacho motioned toward his wounded torso, "but Ur-Shak held him off while I ran off. When I came back, skelly had been disarmed and was being held by the feet by an orc shaman who looked very pleased with himself. We brought skelly back and trussed him up in the tree. We bandaged you up and Ur-Shak left. You woke up about three hours after he left."
Pacho ended his story with a sigh and nibbled on a little piece of roasted orc dog.

"Well, thanks for clearing things up for me. I would like to meet Ur-Shak sometime soon. He could prove to be a useful ally 6. I plan on building a little fortress, a tower maybe, in the Orc Lands so I wont be disturbed by the other mages."
I was very happy to be informed of this Ur-Shak.
"And how exactly do you plan to build a fortress, more or less a tower, in the Orc Lands by yourself?" asked Cavalorn skeptically.
"With a couple of thousand of those," I pointed at the skeleton, who was still thrashing around madly, "and the help of your friend Ur-Shak," I finished simply.
"Woe, hold on. One of them is bad enough, but you're talking of thousands, perhaps millions of them when you build this thing. How are you going to control all of them?" Pacho didn't like my idea, obviously.

"Pacho, they are magic creatures, they will listen to my commands. By the way, do you have any spare parchment? I need some for more scrolls if I'm going to summon that many," I answered his question. Before now I had never really thought of how I would control them. I secretly hoped that what I had just told him was accurate.
"Here, take these," Cavalorn said as he handed me two new rolls of parchment.
"Thanks, they'll be put to good use, I assure you," I replied. "I'm going to go find this 'Ur-Shak' and see if I can get him to help me."
"Good luck." Pacho patted me on the back as I started back toward the Orc Lands. "Wait! What are we going to do about him?" He pointed at the skeleton.
"Ahh, here." I took out my Word and cleaved its skull in two. "That's taken care of. Once again, goodbye, and thank you for you help."
"Don't mention it, just be more careful next time!" shouted Cavalorn from behind me.
I continued on, wandering myself how I was going to build my tower. Ideas ran through my head like happy children until I came upon the perfect plan. I looked at the Old Citadel standing alone on its little hill.

Yes, that will do fine! I thought to myself, looking at those old ruins.

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To Be Continued…

1 It was around 3:00 am. As far as I know it is pretty dark around that time
2 Orc dogs are small but very, very muscular. Muscle counts for most of your body weight
3 I don't think the lower level guards got chain mail. Only some leather armor over a red tunic.
4 Skeletons don't weigh much. Duh
5 Ur-Shak is a shaman, but id imagine that any orc his size could easily deal with a orc dog
6 Foreshadowing? Nah…