Ends of Magic

The row of metal doors in the wall turned out to be exactly like an elevator bank, and Molithri ushered them into a filigreed metal box that buzzed with enchantments. Nathan’s magical senses could pick up the enchantments on the box and how they interfaced with the enchantments on the shaft. Notably, he could tell that this level wasn't the bottom. The elevators went down underneath the level of the ocean, and the only thing holding them up right now were the enchantments on the wall.

He made sure his aura was good and compressed. He didn't want to drop the Heirs down into whatever subterranean dungeon was present here, and he wasn't quite sure enough of his control of his aura to not accidentally break something in such a complex mess of magic.

Their guide pushed one glowing button of many on the wall, and they began rising. A little light tracked their progress as it moved up from a button labeled “Docks,” past buttons labeled for multiple different armories and vaults, several practice halls and a transit road, and towards the button labeled “Lower Palace.” Above that were “Upper Palace,” and “Palace Spire.”

They were all distracted from their examination as another set of enchantments flickered to life and the walls of the elevator car flickered into invisibility. The walls beyond must have been similarly enchanted, since they could see clearly over the port and out the opening into the nighttime waters beyond.

Molithri smiled indulgently as the Heirs stepped towards the wall to watch the port drop away beneath them. The Grace of the Mists grew small, and Nathan felt a pang of nostalgia. Their time on the ship had been interrupted by the run-in with a ship full of mercenaries and a giant sea monster, but on the whole it had been one of the more peaceful and stress-free periods he’d spent on Davrar. He’d had a good time sailing across the ocean, too.

Then their view was replaced by solid rock and the walls flickered back to opacity. They turned back to the young woman and Nathan asked the question that was on everybody’s minds. “Are we going to see Sarya?”

“You would be wise to sleep first.” Their guide was still smiling, but now it was more polite. “You’re placed well on the list, but do not carry emergency status. If she judges it worthy she’ll see you tomorrow.”

How soon she sees us is an indicator of how much she cares. Or maybe it’s all games. I killed her rival, even if it didn’t stick. She cares, and if she delays it's because she's making a point.

The doors slid open moments later and the Heirs exited into a grand entry hall. It was a huge and empty space, but the walls were made of warm wood and tall heatless flames danced on chandeliers. The whole ensemble gave the room a comforting and warm feeling. It was rather the opposite of the vibe Nathan had gotten from the Ascendent Academy, where everything was cold marble and pale frescos.

“Your rooms are on the cityview side. Breakfast occurs in the gardens, beyond those doors.” Molithri glided over the wooden floors, giving them a brief tour as she led them towards their room. "Or you can simply request food in your rooms. That may be wise, before you meet with Sarya. Many of the other guests will seek to determine your status before your deeds are known."

Nathan tentatively extended his magical senses over the building. He knew this was the active home of a Questor, and likely to be better-defended than most places he'd been . What he found reminded him of the Ascendant Academy again, but in a whole different direction. There was magic and wizardry laced through the entire structure, but it didn’t feel alive and active in the same way the Academy had been. There were certainly security and detection enchantments, but they weren’t integrated into a whole unit. Wizardry ran through the structure to reinforce it and trigger an alarm if anything was damaged, but there wasn’t a will behind it.

I’m also pretty sure this palace isn’t conjured via wizardry. No, wait some parts are. Those doors, the roof of this gallery?

“If it pleases you, here is your suite. This is the panel to alert the staff for your desires. Food or cleaning or simple guidance.” Molithri waved a hand and the doors opened, revealing a sumptuously-decorated common area with an attached kitchen and several doors leading off of it. “Here are your keys.” She presented them with a set of enchanted spikes that looked to fit into a hole on the front of the doors.”

“Are we allowed to leave?” Sarah asked, tilting her head at Molithri.

She giggled. “Doubt not! You are not prisoners. You should stay in the palace until your meeting with Sarya. We can find you inside the palace with ease when it is time, and the trip to the city would take time.” She shrugged languidly. “Be courteous and do not bypass locked doors or guards, and you will observe your guest obligations. May you dream of triumph.” She left, the doors swinging shut behind her with only a faint click as the lock engaged.

The Heirs looked around at each other, then Khachi blew out a long breath. “Keihona. It is not what my imagination showed.”

“It’s thousands of years old,” Aarl said thoughtfully. “They guard against threats that we’ve never fought. Against enemies who are long dead, just in case another tries the same kind of attack.”

Stella flopped onto one of the couches. “Well, their couches are very comfortable. Maybe I’ll sleep here tonight.”

The rest of the Heirs spread out to explore their suite, expressing their appreciation for the novel and advanced comforts. Sarah was particularly enamored with the enchantment that could replace the walls of the shower with an illusion of a thunderstorm or the inside of an erupting volcano. None of it worked for Nathan, and he had to tiptoe around to avoid breaking any of the myriad enchantments. They were everywhere, and his aura wanted to break magic. He could make it allow certain magics, but it required a sliver of attention he couldn't maintain in his sleep.

I guess I’m sleeping on the ground again tonight. At least the carpet is soft… and also enchanted. Well, if we pile enough bedrolls up it shouldn’t be a problem.

Khachi called them all back to the common area. “We should discuss our final approach to meeting Sarya.” He gestured for them all to sit, then turned to Nathan. “Can you ensure discretion?” He flickered his eyes to the walls around them.

Nathan pursed his lips and nodded. He reached out to the enchantments around them, interrogating the function of every single one of them to find any that were focused on eavesdropping and surveillance.

He didn’t find any. There were enchantments to control the temperature, to facilitate the plumbing and to allow illusions to be projected on various walls, but he couldn’t see any that were geared towards spying on the occupants of the suites. Nathan furrowed his brow in concentration. He closed his eyes and dug deeper, parsing through the wizardry that flowed through the palace.

I figured out the wizardry of the Ascendent Academy. This is not beyond me. If I were trying to hide a surveillance enchantment, where would I put it?

The first layer of wizardry was exactly what it appeared, a layer of protective magic that reinforced the physical structure, making it harder to damage the structure of the palace. The second layer was similar, but worked on the enchantments instead of the physical structure. The magic of the palace would be more resistant to tampering and also self-repair over time. It wouldn't stop him, but it would help against most other forms of magical tampering.

He couldn't find anything beyond that. As far as Nathan could tell, there wasn’t any detection magic in their suite at all. In fact, some of the larger-scale enchantments on the building seemed to be geared to prevent eavesdropping of any kind, without loopholes.

Mystical Discernment 4 achieved!

“I don’t think there’s anything spying on us,” Nathan reported. “The building itself repels divination, actually. We’re safe.”

“I’m still casting a [Muffle],” Stella said. After she’d finished, she turned her attention towards Nathan. “You’re lighting the way. You’ve spoken to Eolinne since our last conversation. What is your plan?”

Nathan chewed on a lip. “I think we should be pretty straight with her. From what Eolinne said, she’s better than Brox. It sounds like she cares about her people, and makes pretty decent plans to accomplish her goals. We want to work with her, and lying is a bad way to start that relationship.”

“But will she be direct in her dealings with us?” Aarl asked with a frown. “If we tell her everything, then she could shape our Path easily.”

Stella shook her head. “She knows so much more than us. There’s nothing we can do to know if she's lying. Hear me, I’d like to be able to trust her, but we can’t know if she’s worthy of trust so easily.”

“Maybe there is a way.” Sarah’s voice was hesitant. “Eolinne claimed no knowledge of any deal Sarya made with Badud about the Ending of History. What Sarya says about it will be important.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Nathan could see where Sarah was going. “We just ask her if Badud can move the Ending up like he threatened. If she admits to making the deal then we know she’s being straight with us. If she’s manipulating us then she’ll hedge. She might pretend he was able to do it on his own, or that he made a deal with another grid.” The more he thought about it, the more he liked that idea. “That’s a great way to tell if she’s going to treat us like people or pieces on a game board.”

Aarl nodded slowly. “If she’s sincere, we gain a true ally. If she’s not, then we know that we are being misused.”

Khachi sighed heavily. “But even if she lies, we will still move at her command, if the command is just. She is our only option to become involved in the games of Questors.”

“We could go back to Agmon?” Stella said. “We know there’s another Questor there.”

“We know it belongs to another Questor,” Sarah corrected. “Ushia Mur. She may not be there, and she is part of Sarya’s grid. We would be fighting the same foe.”

Aarl gave a brief chuckle. “We are also enemies of Agmon, and I don’t want to have to do the sea voyage again! We just got off the ship.”

“We know of other great cities,” Khachi said thoughtfully. “Esebus. Sangrad. Zhark. We could find Questors there.”

“I'm pretty sure Esebus and Zhark belong to other Questors from Badud’s grid,” Nathan replied. “Zhark was where the assassins came from. We could fight them, but I doubt they’ll give us answers. I don’t know about Sangrad.” He shook his head. “Sarya is our best bet. We have an introduction, we’ve done her a favor, there’s every reason to believe that this can work out well. We just need her to think that we’re worth treating like allies, not mushrooms.”

“Mushrooms?” Khachi asked, confused.

“Kept in the dark and fed shit,” Nathan answered wryly. Then he got serious again. “I think telling her we think Davrar is a game is the key there, but I need to be careful not to be too aggressive about it.”

“My bones say we make Nathan do all of the talking.” Aarl leaned back on the couch. “This is not my battlefield.”

“Nor mine,” Khachi agreed. “Can we ask to use a blessing of honesty?”

Nathan tilted his head back and forth. “I don’t think it’s worth it. If we open with that we as good as say we don’t trust her.”

“But we don’t trust her,” Stella protested.

“But if that’s how we start, she’ll never trust us. Besides, she’s a thief and a rogue. She might have skills or artifacts that let her lie, even to one of your blessings. If anybody can do that, it’s going to be a Questor. So we shouldn't try," Nathan replied thoughtfully.

“That’s a better argument,” Sarah said, nodding along. “Are there any other targets? I want to go use that shower.”

There wasn’t anything else, so the Heirs split up to enjoy the luxuries of the suite and get some rest in preparation for their meeting with the Questor.

–

Nathan had trouble going to sleep. He was examining every facet of what was going to happen in the upcoming meeting, thinking through his conversational lines and trying to predict what Sarya might ask him. He decided he’d explain about Earth if she asked, but not bring it up unless she asked, or unless she asked him to provide context for why he thought Davrar was a game.

That’s just a lot of ground to cover. It feels like a distraction, though it might help explain her why I'm so convinced. Maybe I’ll hint at it, try to get her to ask.

Eventually he realized it wasn’t just preparation that was keeping him up. It was straight nerves. He was more anxious now than he’d ever been.

Well, that makes sense. This meeting is going to determine our future. And I can't punch my way to getting what I want.

Eventually Nathan decided to go out and meditate on the balcony. He could look out over the city from there, and just spent a few minutes appreciating the lights and color of Keihona. It was late at night, but the city was far from asleep. The glow from the city competed with the world above, and Nathan found it soothing. It was the largest city he’d found on Davrar, and reminded him of Earth in an important way.

There is civilization here, and it’s not all slavers and imperialists. Everything I've seen suggests that that Keihona is actually a pretty decent place. I should give Sarya some credit for that.

After that he went back inside and was able to fall asleep quickly on the mound of unenchanted bedrolls and blankets, sleeping without dreams.

The next morning he woke feeling more relaxed than he was expecting. He could smell food and made his way into the common area to find the Heirs picking over a large platter they’d had delivered. It was new to them but somewhat familiar to Nathan, who recognized fried fish when he saw it. It was even paired with fried slices of a starchy vegetable that reminded Nathan of potatoes.

Fish and chips. Maybe I should retract the comment about them being civilized.

They didn’t have to wait long after finishing breakfast for a knock. Stella gestured and the door opened, revealing Molithri. She was wearing a similar dress to yesterday, though this time in white and gold. She bowed. “If it suits your desires, I will take you to Sarya now.”

The Heirs were all ready to go and followed their guide through the palace, seeing other people passing by now and then. Nathan had been expecting Molithri to lead them to the elevators to go up the palace spire, but instead she took them into a wide courtyard that was filled with a dense forest. It looked too wild to be cultivated but too beautiful to be natural. A series of winding paths made of natural stone disappeared into the woods, and they walked down one of those to find a small clearing.

In the clearing was a roughly circular table made of rough wood, surrounded by a series of nicely carved wooden chairs. Water dripped off the trees around them to make a pleasant background noise. Eolinne sat in one of the chairs on the far side of the table, fingers steepled in front of her chin and red eyes watching the Heirs as they came in. Her painted mouth quirked upwards, but she stayed silent.

Next to her sat a smaller woman with short hair in a pixie cut. She was dressed casually in a long-sleeved sweater with a high neck and a leather jacket. The lack of adornment stood out next to Eolinne’s pale white skin and crown of blackened branches. But the woman moved with absolute confidence, and naturally commanded the entire space.

She gave them a professional smile, a simple upturn of the lips that served its purpose in letting them know they were welcome, then swept a hand towards the seats before her. “Please, sit. I'm Sarya, and there's much for us to to discuss.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Arcane Nullfield 8

Permanent Talent 2: Immortal Body 6

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 8

Class: End of Magic level 834

Bottomless Stamina : 84400/84400

Indomitable

The Undeniable Strike of the Antimage

Stamina Burn

Momentum Mastery

Stoneflesh

Arcane Nullification

Galefoot

Close Quarters Mastery

Boundless Aura

Denial of Mysticism

The Ending of Magic

Aura Projection

Selective Dispel

The Living World

Class: Spellslayer level 564

Regenerative Focus: 5740/5740

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Sneaky Blow

Antimagic Stealth

Magical Manipulation

Lethal Index

Wizard Resistance

Magic Jammer

Controlled Failure

Utility skills:

Tranquility 3

Inspiration 8

Impulse 3

Mystical Discernment 4

Forewarning 2

Arcane Insight 4

Evasion 1

Mental Vault 5

Tutoring 9

Parkour 9

Visibility Control 5

High-tier Disguise 5

High-tier Battle Cry 3

Aura Control 5