Ends of Magic

Nathan glanced back at his new students, who were laying into their lunch with gusto. “I need two weeks.”

“Do you look at me and see a fool?” Faline spat. “By then Badud will recover, and plan his return. Giantsrest is wounded, but their revenge will be terrible if we allow them to weave with a single color.”

She nodded decisively, green eyes flashing. “The city will already be locked down, harshly enough we cannot enter. We must wait until the social scene of Giantsrest is reborn and the adamant curtain is lifted. There will be power struggles for the positions of the dead archmages.”

Her lips curved up sensuously. “With Declan dead, Ardglass is without a master, and that alone will cause greed unending. If we are wise with our butchery, we can use their greed, turn the mages against each other before Badud can gather them into his palm once more. “

Her gaze was flat. “To strike that target, we must leave in five days, and enter the first moment the lockdown is finished.”

The assassin’s surety was intoxicating. Nathan could almost see her plan unfolding. They’d sneak in as Giantsrest began to recover from the disastrous battle. There would be uncertainty in the streets and chaos in the Academy as the death of so many senior mages sunk in. Then, they’d strike. Nathan and Faline would sneak into places that were supposed to be safe and kill mages to instill panic. They’d do it in a way that would turn mages against each other and sow discord across the city. He didn't know how, but Faline did.

Giantsrest would know that the fight had come to them. It would be like Halsmet, when Nathan had killed an archmage and then evaded capture. That had sowed fear, which he'd harvested by striking with impunity in the days following. Only this time, the mages wouldn’t have anywhere safe to flee to. He found himself nodding along, altering his plans to make Faline’s story into a reality. Then he caught himself.

Training up antimages for Halsmet is important. They are going to need people to fight monsters and dungeons, not to mention mages. But if we wait too long, Badud will recover from a cursed blade to the gut and rally Giantsrest around his cause again. Then he might decide to inflict some retribution. I might be able to fly now, and defend myself from his antimagic. But there’s no way I can defend the entire city from an [Earthquake] spell. We need to go on the offensive, and soon. This is our best chance.

Nathan frowned, considering how much time he could reasonably cut off the training course. He met Faline’s bright eyes, ignoring the provocative way her hand slid down her hip. “Ten days.”

He bit his lip in thought. She was bargaining, so there seemed to be some wiggle room to the timing. “Eight. Any less and I won’t be able to teach them anything material about the antimagic Talent. I have other Insights that will help them master their antimagic.”

Faline tilted her head slightly. “Will you set them on the same path that you follow, place the blades in their hand and shepherd them through their first levels? That will lead to dim flames and shrouded paths.”

She stepped closer and smiled wide, the sunlight glinting from sharpened teeth. “Give them the Insights to challenge Davrar, and those that survive will become dragons. Think of your own Path. It started in the tower of an archmage. Every morsel of safety will smother their fire.”

Nathan glanced back towards the twenty-two students who remained. A few of them were looking in his direction, elbowing others and pointing towards Faline surreptitiously.

Some of them are going to die trying to follow in my footsteps. I might be able to give them more knowledge, help them be better. But it comes at the cost of giving Giantsrest more time. Even if an extra day of training might save a life, it could doom this city. But if I can’t teach them [Regeneration] and a little bit about antimagic then I should just call this whole training off.

He turned back to Faline, seeing her tilt her head and smile, satisfied that he’d decided in her favor.

Nathan frowned at her ability to read him, then shrugged. “Seven days from today. Any less and I shouldn’t teach them at all.”

Her smile turned into a pout, eyes wide and innocent while her lips became full and red. “Six would be better. Please?”

Pouting is not an expression I ever expected to see on her face.

“Seven or I cancel this whole thing. Don’t you want to recruit more antimagic assassins in the future?”

She snorted, rolling her eyes and giving up the coquettish expression to speak bluntly. “If I need to recruit more assassins, we have failed. But you wish to hit every target. I will meet you at dawn in seven days, and we will bring a prophecy of death onto Gianstrest.”

Nathan frowned, then saluted. “See you then.”

Faline performed an elaborate bow that Nathan had never seen before. He didn’t know how to react, but she solved the problem by activating her stealth skills and fading from view. He watched as she slipped through the shadows and out the open gate.

The candidates behind him had reacted in alarm when she’d vanished, and Nathan snorted as a few of them looked around wildly. He walked back over and clapped his hands together to draw their attention.

“Ok. Let’s talk about [Regeneration], and [Focused Mind].”

High-tier Lecturing 8 achieved!

—

Nathan knocked on the door of Sudraiel’s co-opted office in the basement of the governmental mansion, unsure if she was still up. It was late, but some of the Adventurers had indicated that she was planning to leave tomorrow. He needed to talk to her before then.

The door was opened by Neta, who squinted suspiciously before she recognized him. “Oh, Nathan! I was about to tell you to check the time and go screw a muckgrabber. Come in!”

“Where are the rest of the Old Hands?” he asked, looking around for the other members of her team.

Neta sighed. “Dissolving. Karo tried to hold on, but she’s not Delric. We followed her for the battle but…” She shrugged, communicating that the whole situation was complicated. "She’s staying to train and lead a team of Halsmet, but the others are returning to join other teams in Gemore. I work with Sudraiel now.”

“Neat. Apprenticing in how to Guildmistress?” Nathan joked.

“Hah. That would be a target to hit.” Sudraiel’s voice came from further in the office. “Hear me, her succeeding me would be a blessing from the divine. But no, she apprentices in the true work of the Guild. Administration.” The last word was spat like a curse.

Nathan wandered in, looking for Sudraiel in the offices where Myrla and her fellow scribes had toiled for years. The spaces were mostly cleared out, and Nathan saw Sudraiel shoveling spare paper into a dimensional bag.

She saw his questioning look and returned the gaze unselfconsciously. “Gemore doesn’t make paper. I will take every scrap I can find.” She set down the bag on a nearby desk. “It’s good you’ve come. Faline left me a note that you two will attempt to destroy Giantsrest?” The old woman snorted and sat heavily in a chair behind the desk, waving him in. “What words. I never believed I’d say them, not even as a game. But we’ve followed your light to this place, and I have little regret. What did you come to say to me?”

Nathan took the seat she indicated as Neta sat down off to the side.

That’s fine. Neta’s good people, and this doesn’t need to be private.

“Yeah, Faline and I are going to Giantsrest soon. Faline’s got a plan to set them against each other. We need to knock them off-balance before Badud can reorganize. It’s got to be political chaos over there with three archmages dead, not to mention all of the other causalities from the battle.”

He was struck by a sudden thought and went off on a tangent. “I killed Chennal dho Pelogi on the battlefield. That was Harthi’s father, right? You might want to be careful how she learns about it.”

Sudraiel waved a hand dismissively. “She bears little love for her father. Remember that she worked for Taeol to catch his attention. This further severs her ties to the city of Giants, which is good. She has shown herself a capable enchanter, and is set to receive her own shop soon.” The elderly Guildmistress interlaced her hands on the desk, her translucent skin whitening under even the gentle pressure. She didn’t say anything, just cocking one eyebrow at him.

Nathan felt sheepish. “That’s not what I came to talk to you about. I want to start a library of Insights. Available for all Adventurers to browse and find ways to improve their builds. I think it will strengthen Gemore.”

Her head tilted, Sudraiel studied him. “You are leaving for Giantsrest soon. You say you wish to do this, but truly you wish me to start this project, with the resources of the Adventurer’s guild?” She sighed and shook her head. “And you think this idea is new? I saw this light decades ago. I plan to call it the Adventurer Archive. I have been working toward such a thing since before I became Guildmistress.”

She glanced over at Neta, who looked even more surprised than Nathan. “Hear me, the young ones think they’re the only ones with plans. A dungeon of fools, all of you. ”

The guildmistress turned back to Nathan. “I plan to unveil the plans for the Archive soon. With Halsmet captured and Kozar dead, there will be little to smother my fire. Jolba is building a bunker for it, carved into the mountain underneath the guild. I have a dozen weighty Insights ready to be carved onto tablets within.”

Nathan took a second to adapt, but then he nodded.

Bah, I feel like my thunder’s been stolen. This is definitely better though. She’s clearly been thinking this through for a while.

Then her eyes landed on Nathan with a serene superiority. “Do you wish to contribute to the Archive?”

“Uh.” He looked back at her for a second, completely unsure what to say. “Yes? Yes. Good. I was expecting to need to convince you.”

Sudraiel rolled her eyes hard enough that only the whites showed.

Nathan forged ahead, suddenly defensive. “I suppose great minds think alike? Gemore definitely needs some powerful Insights that are common, so people can make decent builds even if they don’t inherit Insights. Do you want to make standardized builds, like the Agmon legionaries?”

“No.” The guildmistress shook her head emphatically. “I will urge people to design their own builds. Standardized builds are a trap. Those legionaries are powerful, but they have their weaknesses. Agmon has designed their military doctrine around that build, and they will be slow to change. I expect gun-wielding Bhos to defeat them handily for the next fifty years until they raise a new generation.”

She snorted bleakly. “After that, it’s not my problem. I’ll be dead in twenty years and Jolba will follow the same flame if he retains the Guild.” The guildmistress reached into a dimensional pouch and pulled out three glasses and a bottle of fluorescent blue liquid. She poured a couple of fingers into each glass and slid one over to Nathan and the other to Neta.

“Don’t look like you smelled a muckgrabber, girl.” Sudraiel said, gesturing with her glass. “If you’re to be my apprentice, you need to get used to thinking of the future beyond prophecy. The politics and dirty truths that Adventurers can’t kill. That’s the job of the guild and those who manage it.”

She met Neta’s eyes with a stern glare, then swapped her focus to Nathan. “Know that I wish to hold the knowledge of the Archive close. Not even the Guardians know, so do not tell them, either of you. I will dispel the illusion soon enough.” She took a sip of her drink and leaned back, looking satisfied.

Nathan noticed that the drink was heavy with cold mana, and he withdrew his aura to feel the icy liquid on his tongue. The taste was sharp and floral, like a gin made with lavender.

Neta sputtered on the drink.

Sudraiel chuckled. “You’ll also need to manage your alcohol. Important Insight for a Guildmistress.”

Her expression sobered as she turned back to Nathan. “The Adventurer Archive will only be open to those the Guildmaster approves. We must keep the secrets within safe, and only those trusted by the guild will be allowed within.”

Nathan frowned, sipping at the drink again while he thought. After a moment he shook his head. “Then you’ll have two castes within the guild, the people you trust and the people you don’t. It’ll be a constant source of resentment, and will undermine the entire purpose of the archives. The time people need it the most is beforethey’ve had the chance to prove themselves.”

“You have hit a target, but not the only one,” the guildmistress sighed, waving her glass around in frustration. “The Archive will make Adventurers more powerful, and that power must be entrusted carefully. There’s no other path.”

“It would be better to trust all of the Adventurers.” Nathan retorted, earning another eye-roll from the old woman sitting across the table from him.

“Blasphemously good idea! Let’s trust the Ending of History to be an easy target too, shall we?”

This isn’t the same as classifying information. This is like only teaching engineering courses to people with classified clearance. Actually, that gives me an idea.

“It’ll poison the guild, to block off all of the Insights within.” he protested. “You already have problems with Adventurers acting on their own, hurting the guild with infighting or even outright betraying you. You've been trying to unify the guild, but this will make that worse, not better!"

Yeah, like the Pack Leaders, the ones who tried to capture me on a promise from Taeol.

He continued. “As Gemore expands and becomes more powerful, there are going to be more opportunities for Adventurers to abuse their power. There will be more villages and cities spread over more territory, which means that they’ll be able to abuse villagers, attack other Adventurers, or just do a bad job because they feel resentful that they’re denied the Archive.”

Sudraiel nodded along begrudgingly, taking a sip of her drink and gesturing for him to continue.

“That’s a separate problem from the Archive, but the archive will make it worse. You need a group inside the Adventurers whose job is to police them. Call it Internal Review, and that’s where you put your trusted Adventurers. Then you have a mechanism to ensure nobody is abusing your Insights, and you aren’t kneecapping the Archive before it can even get started.”

She frowned again, but didn’t speak immediately.

Nathan took the moment to add one more idea, inspired by his previous musings about teaching Stella. “You can hide away the truly dangerous Insights, make them only accessible to mature, trustworthy Adventurers on the right Path. Things that could cause incredible destruction.” He held up a finger to emphasize his next point. “But all Adventurers need access to most of it, enough powerful Insights to design a powerful build.”

The guildmistress looked grumpy at his argument, and she eyed him over the rim of her glass. “What Insights would you contribute to the Archive?”

Nathan was surprised by the non-sequitur, but he responded honestly. “[Regeneration], maybe [Noticeability] and [Focused Mind]. I’ve only gotten [Regeneration] written out, but I can get the rest in the next few days.” He set the condensed version of the [Regeneration] Insight on the table.

Sudraiel seemed deep in thought, though she acknowledged the weight of Nathan’s Insight with a dip of her head.

“I was also going to turn over a bunch of the favors I’m owed. That’s a few from the Guardians, though Kia said she wanted to add a few to the library regardless. There’s also a really big one from the Bhos. I also had the Bhos extract a favor from everybody who wanted a gun, and I was going to turn those over as well. I was going to use it as my primary leverage for the library, but all of that should go into the Archive instead.”

The guildmistress barely managed to avoid a spit-take, coughing on a sip of liquor. “Dragon’s breath, really?”

He nodded, and Sudraiel leaned back again, clearly giving his argument a second thought. And then a third. “It is a different angle to strike from. An Internal Review, which investigates reports of wrongdoing. A careful hand would be essential.”

“I would be ok with denying access to the Archive as a punishment.” Nathan said. “And don’t make everybody you trust part of Internal Review. Or the most powerful Adventurers. It needs to be a job, not a status. In fact, you should put some honorable traditionalists in it. People who won't turn a blind eye to injustice.”

The guildmistress seemed to be very willing to consider the idea, and they spent a while longer talking over the details. Nathan reached back in his memories for everything he remembered of this kind of internal affairs department on Earth. Most of it was from TV and books and thus of dubious accuracy, but they provided ideas on how to structure the new arm of the Adventurer’s guild.

Neta got more involved as the discussion continued, contributing some ideas of her own before they circled back around to the Archive.

Sudraiel spent some time talking about everything she’d planned for the Adventurer Archive. She’d spent an enormous amount of time planning the security, only surpassed by how much effort had gone into figuring out how to present it to Gemore so people would feel motivated to contribute powerful Insights.

“It’s all about weight, and status.” The guildmistress said, three drinks in and just a little tipsy. “The Insights in the Archive need to be powerful enough to become part of many Adventurer’s builds. Then it becomes a matter of pride to have contributed. With the citations engraved across the top of each Insight, all will know who contributed a lasting boon to Gemore. It will be part of the pride of an Adventuring family, to contribute weighty Insights to the Archive.”

She swirled the remnants of her last drink and downed it. Her voice was cynical. “If we’re favored by prophecy and Algoa, it may even work.”

Neta had drunk half as much, but the small knuld woman clearly didn’t share the older Guildmistress’ tolerance. She laid a careless hand on the older woman’s shoulder and slurred slightly. “It’ll be blasphemously good. You’re smart and this’ll make Gemore better.”

“She’s right.” Nathan said through an amused smile. “Even if it takes a while to catch on, just having some powerful Insights available will help the new Adventurers from the villages. More will survive and level. They’ll contribute more Insights in gratitude, to pay it forward. This will work. You’ve been working for a long time to change the culture so it will work.”

Nathan waved his hand around, indicating the city around them. “And if anybody disagrees, just point to what we can accomplish when the Adventurers work together, and stop hiding Insights from each other.”

The guildmistress shook her head and grabbed the three empty glasses to tuck back into her pouch. “Teach a mage to light a fire. You’re the one who freed this city, then beat the army. Killed three - no, four archmages. Taeol. The army.”

“The water thing was Aarl’s idea.”

The guildmistress rolled her eyes and gave him a shooing gesture. “Go. It is late. I thank you for the ideas, and the support.” She held up the papers that held the description of the [Regeneration] Insight. “Though I need to think on how to carve this into stone. It might need a room.”

Nathan left the meeting confident that everything he’d wanted from his library would be accomplished by Sudraiel’s Adventurer Archive.

You know, I think the archive might be something great. Though it might become a dungeon in a few hundred years.

He shrugged on his way to bed. You could plan for the future, but some risks had to be taken.

-

The next morning, he woke his antimage candidates before dawn to run sprints. Then he started quizzing them on his lectures from the day before during breathers, assigning more sprints for wrong answers.

Shom answered perfectly, the heavy teenager dodging any extra running with a desperation borne of breathlessness. His sister Hetal only got one question wrong, though she whispered her answers so quietly Nathan had to strain to hear them. Raf kept getting questions wrong but did his extra running in good humor, his developed physique and intensity carrying him through the punishment exercise.

Nathan was a bit disappointed in Shai, the dark-haired girl who’d flirted with him. She tried to drift away from his gaze and avoid eye contact to prevent him from asking her questions, but Nathan kept rigorous track of engagement and singled her out regardless.

High-tier Lecturing 9 achieved!

He lost six more students that day, and considered it a fair trade.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 9

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 3

Class: Void of Magic level297

Deepened Stamina: 90151/9210

Void of Feeling

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Magic Anathema

Airborne Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Voluminous Aura

Denial of Wizardry

Mana Severance

Class: Magekiller level 117

Regenerative Focus: 1270/1270

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Unsuspecting Strike

Antimagic Stealth

Spell Redirection

Lethal Index

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 10

Leadership 8

Acceleration 2

Wizard Senses 2

Alertness 4

Wizard’s Intuition 1

Effortless Dodge 1

Mental Fortress 6

High-tier Lecturing 9

High-tier Tumbling 10

High-tier Noticeability 2

Low-tier Quiet Movement 4

Low-tier Disguise 4

Mid-tier Battle Cry 7