A summary of "The Snowstorm Begins" by Alexey Pekhov Automatic translate

This story is a prequel to a larger series, created in 2001. It reveals the origins of the Forbidden Territory of Avendoom and explains the reasons for the concealment of a powerful artifact in the ancient burial grounds of Hrad-Spain. The text logically leads into the beginning of the larger narrative and describes in detail the tragic events that changed the face of the capital of Valiostr two centuries before the adventures of the famous master thief, Garrett.

The story serves as a prequel to the renowned fantasy series "The Siala Chronicles." This cycle consists of three main novels: "Stalker of the Shadows," "Janga of the Shadows," and "Snowstorm of Shadows." This work occupies the zero position in the chronology of the fictional world, describing a catastrophe that determined the fate of many future characters and nations.

Return to the capital

Archmage Valder returns to Avendoom after a long and dangerous stay in the Lakeside Empire. Having barely arrived in the capital of Valiostr, the young wizard receives an urgent mental summons to the Order Council. He is forced to travel to the mages’ citadel in the modest traveling clothes of an ordinary citizen, without even having time to change his boots or enter his office.

Valder is considered the youngest archmage in the history of Valiostr’s mages, having earned his status with four stripes on his staff at just thirty years old. Those around him predict a brilliant future for him, and the position of head of the Order. However, the mage himself openly disdains internal administrative intrigues, preferring distant travels and carrying out secret missions for Master Panarik.

The winter streets of Avendoom are experiencing a temporary warmth after the harsh November and December frosts. Children are building snow forts, reenacting battles with orcs at the distant Lonely Giant. On the way to the square, Valder is overtaken by his devoted twelve-year-old student, Gani — an orphan from the remote province of Miranueh, possessing colossal, yet dormant, magical potential.

The boy brings his teacher the staff he’d forgotten in his haste, carefully wrapping it in a piece of cloth to avoid unnecessary questions from the watchful city guard. Valder is sincerely grateful to the teenager for his quick-wittedness. Before sending the student home, the archmage orders him to study a complex page describing an air elemental spell, strictly forbidding him from experimenting alone.

Meeting in the old tower

Valder approaches the Order’s old six-story tower, which the mages soon plan to abandon for a new, more spacious and majestic building. At the entrance, he is met by Dai — a chained ghoul, a hideous little corpse-eater and scavenger with wrinkled skin and enormous red eyes. This creature was once captured and left in the citadel as a joke by Archmage Ilio.

Valder feels a deep revulsion toward the dangerous creature, but conjures a piece of meat out of thin air to quiet the ravenous ghoul’s cries. Climbing a steep spiral staircase, the young wizard encounters his old friend Ilio. His friend shares disturbing news: Master Panarik and the aged researcher Zemmel are planning to perform a most dangerous ritual that very night.

The essence of Zemmel’s plan is the immediate destruction of the protective barrier of Kronk-a-Mor, which protects the Nameless One beyond the Needles of Frost. To implement this plan, the old man intends to use an ancient magical artifact — the Horn of the Rainbow. Zemmel has long studied forbidden tomes and the secret shamanism of the ogres, claiming to have found a way to finally eliminate the kingdom’s main threat.

Disagreements at the Council

Only six of Valiostr’s nine active archmages gather in the circular meeting room on the tower’s top floor. Besides Magister Panarik and researcher Zemmel, the light elf Elo, the red-haired Filander O’Carth, as well as Ilio and Valder are present. The remaining members of the Supreme Council are either traveling far away or not communicating via magical mail at all.

Valder openly expresses strong skepticism about Zemmel’s plan, citing the Council’s incomplete composition and the unpredictability of the ogres’ ancient magic. To the surprise of many, the young mage is supported by the usually hostile and suspicious O’Carth, who urges him not to awaken a sleeping enemy unless absolutely necessary. Ilio also opposes hasty action, demanding he wait for the rest of his colleagues.

The young archmage insists on an official vote, hoping to stop the dangerous experiment legally. The votes are evenly divided: three vote against the ritual, and three support Zemmel’s proposal. Magister Panarik has the final say. Guided by the authority and arguments of the old researcher, the head of the Order casts his vote for the immediate commencement of the procedure.

Ritual and betrayal

Six wizards take their places around a mirror fused into the floor and the Rainbow Horn mounted on a pedestal. The mages tap into their inner reserves, channeling powerful streams of pure energy into the artifact. The Horn begins to pulse rapidly, bathing the room in every color of the spectrum. Valder makes a mistake — he forgets to deactivate his personal protective shield, which he created along the way, causing a slight dissipation of his energy.

Zemmel begins chanting mournful incantations in the ancient ogre language, attempting to activate the alien shamanism. Suddenly, an ominous dark point appears in the artifact’s iridescent glow and begins to grow rapidly. Realizing the mortal danger of this unexpected mental outburst, Valder and Panarik issue an emergency command to immediately interrupt the ritual and extinguish the energy circle.

Instead of submitting, the mad fanatic Zemmel shouts a deadly spell and instantly kills Magister Panarik, literally decapitating him with a magical blow. The binding circle bursts with a roar, the colossal energy released hurling the surviving mages in all directions. Uncontrollable tendrils of force pierce the citadel’s ceiling, and one of the horizontal beams pierces and kills the elf Elo.

The collapse of the citadel

Ilio attempts to physically attack the traitor, but Zemmel, with a flick of his wrist, tears open the mirrored floor, burying the wizard alive in the resulting fissure. Zemmel openly declares to the wounded Valder that he is acting on the direct orders of a certain secret Master. The old man believes that in a moment he will attain absolute immortality, surpass the Nameless One himself, and subjugate the entire world.

Having regained consciousness, the Philanderer O’Carth unleashes a furious barrage of fire magic on the villain, joined by Valder with the last of his strength. Zemmel is protected by a powerful dark aura, but O’Carth redirects the fiery hammer directly at the Horn of the Rainbow. The artifact shifts across the floor, disrupting the spell’s stability. The accumulated dark energy of the Kronk-a-Mor instantly pulverizes Zemmel himself into dust and sinks deep into the soil.

The Order’s Tower begins to tremble, and the magic mirror becomes covered in a network of deep cracks. O’Carth orders the mortally wounded Valder to retrieve the Rainbow Horn and carry it as far away from the dying place as possible. The red-haired Philanderer himself voluntarily remains at the top, devoting all his mental reserves to holding the cracking floor together, buying his comrade some precious time.

Black blizzard over Avendum

Bleeding profusely, Valder struggles down the spiral staircase. On the first floor, he spots Dai’s ghola, unchained and already gnawing on the body of the dead Ilio. Mustering his remaining strength, the archmage incinerates the scavenger in flames and climbs out. At that moment, the mirror at the top shatters completely, O’Carth dies, and the ogres’ alien magic is unleashed.

A terrifying explosion completely destroys the ancient stronghold of the mages. The unleashed curse forms a gigantic black tornado, which rapidly begins to engulf the surrounding neighborhoods of Avendoom. The dark force mercilessly ends the lives of sleeping townspeople, destroying house after house. Valder, losing consciousness from the unbearable pain in his broken ribs, crawls along the snow-covered pavement toward the small square of Sleepy Cat.

The dying wizard collapses at the foot of a snow-covered statue of Sagot, the god of thieves. In his death throes, he is found by his terrified apprentice, Gani. Valder gives the boy the Rainbow Horn and speaks his final words. The Archmage orders the teenager to flee the city immediately, find his surviving colleague, Arcis, give him the artifact, and request further training.

The boy obeys the order and disappears into the darkness of the night, saving the treasure. Valder peacefully falls asleep under the falling snow, while the most terrible and destructive black blizzard in the history of the human kingdom rages over the ruined and cursed part of Avendoom, now the Forbidden Territory.