Ends of Magic

Nathan looked around at his friends, trying to figure out how to say goodbye. His eyes passed over each of them before he spoke. “We’ve been talking about this for such a long time, It’s hard to believe it’s finally here. What more is there to say? I’m going to do something that I need to do, and I’ll try to come back sooner rather than later.”

“It always seemed an uncertain prophecy.” Aarl said. He reached across the table and clapped Nathan on the shoulder. “Drip blood in their eyes, and then come back so we can challenge the Endings together. We’ll wait.” His smile grew crooked. “But not forever. If you take too long, we’ll kill that problem without you.”

Sarah’s lips were pressed tightly together, her expression troubled. “We'll need to level fast. You’re not even at 243 yet.” She flicked her brother in the side of the head and he winced.

Then she turned to Nathan. “Don’t bait the castlebear.” She paused, then snorted in amusement. “Ah, that’s a prophecy of fools. We all know you’ll walk up and punch the giant in the balls. Don’t die, and we’ll swap deeds when you return.”

Nathan nodded to the twins, heartened by their humor. “Good luck. I’ll try to bring back another legendary weapon or two for Aarl, since he needs the help.”

The [Master of Many Weapons] groaned dramatically, but he smiled and made a grasping gesture as if reaching for what Nathan had promised.

Nathan turned to Sarah. “You can trade against my favors with the Bhos for another rifle of your own design. I figure you might have some new modifications in mind now that you’re a higher level.”

The [Sniper] thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. “If we have the time to return to Gemorel, I may do that. I hear that Beatred has a much larger shop now, and many apprentices.”

Nathan turned to Stella next. “I look forward to seeing whatever new magic you pick up with your new class. I’ll probably have some new abilities when I come back. Try not to blow up any mountains unless they really need to get blown up.”

The red-haired mage was subdued, but she sniffed haughtily at his words. “I’ll be a blasphemous force of destruction. When you return, I’ll be able to slag a desert. Without your Insights of Endings.”

Her mouth quirked into a small grin. “Then, when we need to destroy the next army, it won’t be a problem. And when we need to blow up the sun, we can join our Insights to get it done.”

Nathan couldn’t help laughing at her words. Maybe blowing up the sun would fix the problem of the Endings, given what he’d seen on the Solstice. “I look forward to seeing it. Good luck.”

Finally he glanced at Khachi, whose face was trapped in a complicated expression.

I think he’s going to try the divine blessing thing again, but I'm not sure that 's a good idea.

Sure enough, when Khachi spoke his voice reverberated in the small room. “You leave to fight your own battle, with a truly Righteous goal.”

The wolfman’s voice bore a rhythmic cadence, similar to the previous times he’d invoked the divine. “Your path diverges from ours, and you journey to a place we cannot follow.”

The speech wasn’t loud, but the reverberation effect Nathan had noticed before was accomplished by traces of wizardry that flowed out of Davrar, responding to Khachi’s words and releasing divine mana in response.

Khachi was channeling divine mana to stimulate the ritual, but he wasn't manipulating the wizardry. It was more like the Davrar itself was casting the spell in response to the rutual. The wizardry and excess divine mana were being summoned in response to his call, and guided by wizardry that responded to his words.

“The heart of Giantsrest is not our Path. But it is yours, and I charge you to walk it well. May your flame grant you the power you need to cast down the Ascendent Academy in Righteous battle.” The power around them swelled, though not as dramatically as it had when Khachi had blessed Brox and the Heirs before the battle.

Nathan could feel the vortex of power spinning around them, waiting for his response before it would act. The wizardry was dormant but ready, eagerly expecting the next stage of the ritual. It liked the narrative that Khachi was setting up, and wanted Nathan to complete it.

Why am I giving the wizardry agency here? Badud's wizardry didn't feel like it had emotions. Is it something to do with divine mana.

He bowed his head to Khachi and spoke seriously. “I will challenge Giantsrest with Righteousness in my heart, and carry your blessing to the death of a Questor.”

Wizard’s Intuition 3 achieved!

It was the right thing to say, and Khachi’s eyes flashed brighter with familiar divine fire as the divine mana responded to their words, flaring high enough that the very air glowed with golden luminescence.

But they weren’t done yet, and the flaming orbs in Khachi’s face bored into Nathan. “Do not forget your Path with us. We swore an oath together on the Solstice, atop the Seal. We swore to protect not just Gemore but all of Davrar. Your enemy is not just Giantsrest, but the Endings themselves.” His next words weren’t so much a blessing as a plea. “Come back to us, that we might fight the greater battle together.”

Nathan’s voice was similarly quiet, but the vow he made was no less serious. “I will.”

The magic in the air around them thrummed with the words, shifting in some profound way. It went from the frenetic energy of impending battle, the rah-rah of adrenaline and the fight, to the comforting certainty of having friends at your side through danger.

Khachi’s voice was stronger now, but still bore a faint echo. “Then by our destiny, go forth and defeat this foe, before we go on to greater things.”

The wizardry took that as the prompt, and the magic and wizardry swirled around Nathan, converging on him. He tried to pull in his antimagic tight to avoid interfering with the blessing, clenching down on his newly expanded aura.

Mid-tier Aura Manipulation 3 achieved!

It wasn’t enough. The divine mana lost cohesion as it flowed into Nathan, giving him a dramatic Stamina boost but having no other effect. The wizardry followed, attempting to settle into Nathan’s bones and graft power into him. It would have contained the divine mana, storing it for future use like an artificial mana pool. He guessed that it would be used to protect Nathan form hostile mental effects, empower his movements and heal him when he was injured.

But the construct fragmented and broke against Nathan’s aura, dissolving away into motes of power that were subsumed into his antimagic. He tried to clutch at the power, bring it back, but the structure was gone for good. Nathan flexed his hand, examining his body and finding no trace of the blessing that Khachi had tried to bestow upon him.

It brought him back to the battle, when he’d been left out of the blessing that had empowered Brox and the Heirs. He’d felt like an outsider in that moment, left out of a special connection with his friends.

Antimagic has its drawbacks. There are some things I can’t share with the Heirs, and now I’m leaving, widening that gap even further.

Nathan let out a slow breath, opening his eyes to smile sadly at Khachi. “Thank you.”

The wolfman bowed his head in defeat, then stepped forward to clasp Nathan’s hands. “If you cannot carry my blessing, then know that you have my hopes.”

–

That night, Nathan couldn't sleep. He lay awake, agonized by doubt over his decision to go to Giantsrest. There was so much to do here in Halsmet. He could keep adventuring with the Heirs, train his students. Protect people and live comfortably. But he was planning on leaving al of that behind. Tomorrow he'd go into enemy territory. He’d sneak into Giantsrest with Faline and try to topple it from the inside. It was a monumental task, one that could very well get him killed.

Why am I doing it? Is vengeance still driving me forward? I’ve had time and distance from those first days when Taeol tried to subjugate me, to make me a thing. I killed Taeol with my own hands, is that vengeance enough? Why am I still dedicating myself to taking down Giantsrest?

He rolled over in bed, remembering the past. His first days on Davrar had been confusing and terrifying, and he’d come out of his captivity with a deep revulsion for Giantsrest and a strong desire to take revenge for what they’d cost him.

Giantsrest is the reason my Path is to break magic, instead of learning it myself. If they weren’t such assholes I could have worked with them. Translated my knowledge to make Davrar a better place. But the choice was to embrace antimagic, become a mage of Giantsrest, or become a slave. I hated Taeol, but I also hate the system that made him, that will continue to make more like him.

Nathan sighed, thinking about how that motivation had led him to where he was now, going to sleep in a liberated Halsmet. Every step along the way had seemed reasonable, but it had mostly been been reactive. He’d come to Halsmet because the Heirs had been kidnapped, then liberated it because it had been a better option than running away.

But now he was taking the initiative, he was going to Giantsrest to murder mages and try to destabilize the slave-empire. If he succeeded a lot of people were going to die, as the mages fought each other and monsters prayed on the undefended. Why was he doing it? Was it for revenge, or was it because he was being objective in evaluating Giantsrest as an evil that needed to be purged from Davrar?

Does it matter? I think Davrar would be better off without Giantsrest on it. But it’s a personal issue for me because of what happened. They’re my enemies. Opposing magic is my Path, and going to Giantsrest will make me powerful faster than anything else. If I survive.

He snorted softly. If he ever wanted to challenge the Endings, he’d need that power. If he settled for a comfortable life, he’d never fulfill the oath he’d sworn on the Solstice.

Toppling Giantsrest is the next thing I need to do. I won’t spill lakes of blood or murder innocents to take them down it, but I will give it my best shot. After that comes the Endings.

—

Nathan awoke early the next morning, grabbing a quick breakfast in the kitchens and packing a small pack with supplies and food. Thus far he’d depended on the Heirs to carry all of his gear in dimensional bags, but he wouldn’t have that option anymore.

He found Faline waiting for him in the square as the sun ignited, sitting on the stage where the mages of Halsmet had been overwhelmed trying to defend against the Adventurers and freed elites. She waved at him as he approached, hopping off the stone platform and beginning to walk towards the eastern gate without waiting for him to catch up.

Nathan hurried forward, falling in beside the assassin as she strode through the waking city. His attention was drawn to the crowds of people getting started with the day, and Nathan noted the differences from the first time he’d walked through these streets at Faline’s side. There was actual conversation now, with people chatting and complaining. Messengers and porters moved through the street, yelling and joking with each other as they ran early deliveries. The traffic got out of their way like it had the first time, but it seemed to be out of a genuine desire not to delay Nathan and Faline on their business, instead of a fear of being noticed and punished for delaying a mage.

The two didn’t say anything to each other until after they’d passed all the way through the city, at which point Faline leaned back and stretched, thrusting her chest forward and going up on her toes slightly. Then she turned to Nathan with a sly smile. “Hear me, I hoped this would be your Path, when first I found you in the Adventurers Guild.”

She gestured back towards the city of Halsmet. “I did not prophecy the liberation of a city, but it is a powerful start. It will enable our strategy in Giantsrest. Listen to my words, for I have considered how we shall strike the target. Follow."

They started at a mild run down the road towards Giantsrest, and Nathan felt Faline’s stealth skills envelop him through his [Noticeability]. There’d been a dozen eyes on the pair of them from the city, but they all drifted away as the pair set off along the road.

Faline filled Nathan in on the internecine politics of the slave-empire as they traveled. Giantsrest didn’t really have a government so much as an administrative council of archmages that governed the Ascendent Academy at the heart of the city. They funded a force of guards for Giantsrest itself and set rules that sounded more like guidelines. The cultural norms were the real rules.

The enforcement of those rules weren’t the responsibility of the Ascendent Council, or even the guards. Instead, it was considered a civic duty for mages to punish transgressions, and it wasn’t uncommon for somebody without allies to be accused of an imaginary offense, be challenged to a duel and and have their wealth confiscated as punishment. It was taboo for a mage to kill or mind-control another mage outside of unusual circumstances, but lower-level conflict led to a sprawling web of alliances and feuds that spanned from students to archmages.

All that being said, the system worked well to encourage people to generate wealth and develop their own personal power and that of their allies. To be worth anything in Giantsrest you needed to be rich enough to hire mages to work for you, powerful enough to deter challenges, and connected enough to have allies that would help you if another group came after you.

Each of the offshoot towns and cities of Giantsrest were effectively owned by a different mage or archmage, who was in charge of the defense of the territory. Other mages who wanted to live or do business in those territories had to pay rent, and were usually allies or vassals of the one who owned the territory. It was common for the majority of slaves to belong to the ruler of a city, who also ran most of the important businesses. The lucrative ones were prizes that were often distributed to allies and vassals. In general, slaves were often bundled with real estate as a single unit, and part of building a new business or venture was purchasing or capturing the labor to work it.

But Giantsrest itself was the crown jewel of the slave-empire. It was larger, richer and the focus of all of the status games. A promising mage could build a prosperous city up from nothing, but without allies in the capital it would be taken from them by a more powerful mage in short order. And those allies would expect payment, in service, money, slaves or Insights.

The entire edifice was a pyramid with the Ascendent Council at the top, almost two dozen archmages that each had their own supporters, vassals and proteges. Then those people had another layer below them, and down it went until they reached the mages at the bottom of the hierarchy, the students of the Ascendent Academy without resources or power of their own.

Taeol was powerful enough at magic that nobody could dismiss him, but he wasn’t good at the political game. He didn’t have the support network of people below him to fund his projects, and he probably owed Exea a favor for staying in Halsmet when he was trying to capture me. Ultimately he was only an Archmage in terms of magical power, not political power or the ability to command large numbers of mages.

After she’d concluded the background, Faline laid out their goal. “Our target is to disrupt Giantsrest, set a spark to the tension between mages and prevent them from striking against Halsmet or Gemore because they are too busy settling feuds with each other. There are too many mages for us to kill, so they must kill each other.”

Her mouth twisted like she’d bitten something sour. “I know exactly where to strike, what I would do if this were not a time of ascension. But now they follow Badud. They call him a ‘founder,’ one of those who established the Ascendent Academy after the Ending of Elements. He leads the Council, and will quell dissent if he is able.”

Her brow furrowed as she considered the problem. “We should strike at his enemies, then at his allies. If we cause smoke and blood at an event with representatives from both sides, that may be enough to force conflict. We must hit that target before he is recovered.”

She sighed heavily, pulling out a knife from her sleeves and spinning it through her knuckles. It seemed like a nervous tic. “But who are his enemies? What are his goals? Now that he is defeated once, is his priority to see the destruction of Gemore and Halsmet? Or does he seek to rebuild Giantsrest's armies?” She shook her head. “I hate not understanding my enemy.”

Nathan frowned, thinking back on what Badud had said when he’d kidnapped the Heirs. “He wants Giantsrest united, efficient and growing. He wants them to take over the continent quickly, with as little of his attention as possible.”

Faline hummed slightly as they continued down the road, seeming to consider the implications of that. She started thinking out loud. “If we’d left yesterday, we would have time for scouting around the city, gathering information. But since we have given our enemies time,” she shot a moderately annoyed glance in his direction, “we must strike the very day we enter the city. Tonight.”

“Are we going straight there? I would think that they’re watching this route and we'd have to take a detour.” Nathan said, gesturing at the paved road underneath them that led straight to Giantsrest.

“With my skills? No.” Faline said shortly. “It is not a risk I would normally embrace, but I have an edge against magical dangers on this journey.” She reached over and patted his shoulder fondly, making it clear what she meant.

Nathan pursed his lips but didn't respond, and they lapsed into silence for a while as they ran through the mountainous terrain. The site of the battle came up soon enough, now several days old. There was still wreckage of the Giantsrest camp everywhere, and the ground was carved and the vegetation broken from the spontaneous flood. All of the bodies were gone, either removed by the victorious forces from Gemore and Halsmet or eaten by monsters.

It wasn’t even midday, but Nathan found the stillness of the place unsettling. He could clearly remember the extent of the army’s camp, and the experience of fighting in the sky above as hundreds of mages barraged spells at him. Revisiting the place and finding it empty and silent was spooky.

I wonder if I could just [Airwalk] up to get the same view, see what’s changed since the battle. But I need to start conserving Stamina. Stella’s not around to recharge me anymore, and here in the wilderness I need food and rest to get it back. With my expanded pool it takes a few days of good eating and quality rest to completely fill the tank.

He was on the lookout for monsters and spotted a pseudowyrm rooting through some tents that had been caught in a few bushes. The long lizard looked like a huge elongated gila monster with extra legs, and it undulated as the claws on those legs shredded the enchanted fabric to expose what was hidden beneath. It found a wooden drawer unit, which it promptly swallowed whole.

The monster sniffed the air and looked around, causing Nathan to tense. It wasn’t a particularly dangerous monster, but it was one that neither he nor Faline were well-suited to fight. Faline’s daggers were too small to inflict the damage needed to kill the large monster, and while Nathan was strong there was only so much bare hands could do to a creature that outmassed a polar bear.

But Faline showed no concern, and it turned out to be justified as the monster turned away from them and loped off to another pile of debris to pillage.

They passed through the battlefield, continuing their run. They were less than halfway to Giantsrest, but the mountains flew by at their pace. It had taken the army days to travel this distance, but two unencumbered and high-level Adventurers could cover the distance in a day. Faline seemed to be having a slightly harder time than Nathan did, even though he was trying not to spend any Stamina on the travel.

This is much calmer than the run to Halsmet after the Heirs were kidnapped, and my movement skills are more powerful.

The terrain grew gentler and greener as they approached Giantsrest, the mountains smoothing out into hills that were spaced farther and farther apart. At a few points Nathan had to disable magical sensors for them to pass. He also spotted the illusions that hid various watchers, but left them alone at Faline's command. They were running in the open down the road but nobody seemed to see them, an impression backed up by his [Noticeability] skill.

Faline’s skills really seem to make the watchers temporarily forget they have eyes.

His companion broke the silence, speaking slowly to explain the plan she'd been mulling over. “We should strike at the hedonists. They’re a group of artisan and enslavement mages who create specialty enchanted items and carefully breed slaves according to the tastes of the buyer. They’re not a powerful or disciplined group, but they’re friendly with all the other groups and careful to curry favor with anybody who could threaten them.”

She nodded more decisively, warming up to the idea. “I have ignored them, because they do not push for attacks against Gemore. They also mostly afford themselves wards to the adamant standard, and that is a target I cannot hit. But they are visible, and the invites to their parties are worth the Giant’s favor. If we strike them, it will cause confusion and open up further possibilities.

Nathan frowned, asking the question that had been bugging him. “Isn’t Badud our priority? Shouldn’t we go straight for him?”

Faline chuckled, looking at the terrain around them. “Hold your words for a moment, and you will see.” A minute later they came around a tall hill, and Faline gestured as the city of Giantsrest was revealed.

The thing that grabbed his attention were the towers. The Ascendent Academy dominated the skyline like an organ sized for a god. The cluster of golden skyscrapers could be mistaken for a lone mountain standing out from the rolling grassland, with multiple tall pinnacles stretching high into the sky in a way that reminded Nathan of cathedral spires. Except the building was the size of a geologic feature, and it was surrounded by a haze that glowed with golden light. The magic created a halo effect around the structure, like something from Christian religious iconography. Orbs of multicolored stood above the various spires, and streamers of color framed each tower. The whole edifice shone, glorying in the light and color of powerful magic.

Nathan was stunned into immobility by the majesty of the structure. But then he thought at what lay under that beautiful exterior.

I understand why it’s the center of Giantsrest, the symbol of their power. It’s a wonder of Davrar. But I’ll bring it down if that’s what’s needed.

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: 8265/9210

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

Inspiration 1

Acceleration 2

Wizard Senses 2

Alertness 4

Wizard’s Intuition 3

Effortless Dodge 1

Mental Fortress 6

Tutoring 2

High-tier Tumbling 10

High-tier Noticeability 2

Low-tier Disguise 4

Mid-tier Battle Cry 7

Mid-tier Aura Manipulation 3