Staff of Shigmar: Chapter 17, Part 2

23 July 2026

Welcome back! In this installment from the second book of our epic fantasy, Staff of Shigmar, Klaybear has picked up Shigmar’s staff and sees a vision. . . . (31 August 2015) We remind all readers that this book, Staff of Shigmar, as also the first book, is free for download from Smashwords! Glossary links: Book 2, Book 1

Chapter 17, Part 2

The staff felt alive to Klaybear’s touch. Grasping it firmly with his left hand, he lifted it off the lid of the sarcophagus and felt the staff alive within his hand; as soon as he touched it, the emerald-eye flared brilliantly, surrounding the hand-shaped cap, then moving down the staff and up Klaybear’s arm, quickly encasing him in an aura of emerald light. He could almost see it moving, growing, beneath his fingers. He felt great power coursing through it, heard the staff calling to his mind, saw the green light clouding his vision, and he allowed his awareness to sink into the staff. He suddenly saw himself on a hill north of Shigmar, looking down on the battle raging before the gates. A red aperu flew west from the gate above the wall, releasing the fury of its fiery breath against the defenders on the wall, burning them to ashes, their screams of pain filled his ears and mind; an orange aperu flew east from the gate above the wall releasing its acidic breath onto the defenders of the wall, reducing them to forms unrecognizable as human, howling as they melted. Blue and yellow aperum flew back and forth over the city, releasing ice and poison gas upon those not hiding within their homes. Krugle and megatrem stood before the gate, wielding a huge iron clad battering ram; the gates crumbled with a resounding crash, and the hordes of wedaterem, purem, and ghelem waiting on either side of the gate, shouting in triumph, surged into the breach. The city burned; its inhabitants died. He raised the staff, alive in his hand, and all went eerily and suddenly silent; he shouted words he could not hear, and a wave of destruction moved outward in a circle from the staff in his hand, destroying all life it touched, both animal and vegetable, both friend and foe. The living essence flowed back from the wave and into the staff in his hand, and he saw their faces, twisted by pain and anger, flashing past his vision as the staff sucked them into itself. Sound crashed into the silence, and he heard himself wail, felt a hand on his shoulder, and found himself standing next to Shigmar’s coffin, looking into Thal’s eyes.

“Wh-what happened?” Klaybear stammered, disoriented by his mental vision.

“The staff began to glow,” Thal said, “surrounding and encasing you in its emerald radiance, and you did not appear to recognize your surroundings.”

“I saw the gates of Shigmar breached,” Klaybear whispered, sinking onto the sarcophagus, “the people–my people–were dying. I used the staff; it caused a wave of destruction. The wave destroyed everything it touched. People, plants, and animals died; friend and foe died. I saw their pained faces. I saw their spirits sucked into the staff.” He looked up at his companions, eyes wet. “It was horrible to behold . . . to see their accusing faces as their essence was drawn into this staff.”

“It was the future that you saw,” Thal noted, “and what will happen when we return to Shigmar with the staff.”

Klaybear sighed. “I feel we must go quickly, but I do not want to go, to face . . . ,” his voice trailed off without finishing his thought.

Thal nodded, squeezing the kailu’s shoulder then letting his arm fall. “How do we leave here?”

“We could open a door directly to Shigmar,” Tevvy suggested.

Blakstar shook his head. “We have to retrieve the horses,” he noted.

“Along with Klare and Rokwolf,” Klaybear added.

“Maybe the guards know,” Tevvy shrugged.

Together they left the tomb; when the clay statues saw Klaybear holding the staff, they both went onto one knee, bowing to him, their faces oddly childlike in the green glow of breath-giver.

“We exist only to serve you, master,” they intoned in their sepulchral voices.

“How do we get back to the surface?” Klaybear asked.

Without rising from their bows, the statues struck the ground between them with their maces. A gray shimmering archway opened in the space between them. Klaybear and his companions stepped away from the tomb doors toward the statues and heard the doors clunk shut and the lock click behind them.

“We will await your return, master,” the left said.

“When you have completed your quest, master,” the right added.

“When I have saved Shigmar?” Klaybear asked.

“No, when your life has run its course . . . ,” the left began.

“If such is your lot,” the right inserted.

“. . . or your desire,” the left went on.

“And you wish to return the staff to this place for safe-keeping,” the right finished.

“You may open a door to this room, master,” the left said.

“And we will give you access to the tomb,” the right said.

Klaybear nodded, bowing to them. “It shall be as you say,” he said, following his companions through the door.

On Saturday we will see how this group of chosen receive instructions from the founders, enabled by their possession of two keys: the kortexi’s sword and the kailu’s staff. Until then, get a full ebook copy from Smashwords for free! If you prefer print, purchase your copy from the link provided. Good reading!