Chapter 549: 551. Gassil’s Story

Sudden acceleration grabbed Dallion as he found himself in the real world. A hint of surprise emerged on the mage’s face. Although only a moment had passed for him, he seemed aware that his spell had failed. Panic flashed in his eyes.

You aren’t prepared for this, Dallion thought, flying by. The sudden increase in perception let him see a lot of things he would have otherwise missed. And that was not all. The instant the mage dropped his guard, Dallion’s empathic connection triggered.

MEMORY FRAGMENT

Mage Academy Research Cloister, 17 years ago

“This is a stupid idea,” Katka said. As the youngest of the group, she never missed an opportunity to make her thoughts known.

Gassil knew her type all too well. Back on Earth, she probably was someone important, quite possibly with power. It was obvious in every action she took, in every glance, even every syllable of every word she spoke. It had probably come to a shock to her to appear in this world, starting from scratch. Only, she hadn’t started from scratch. Similar to Gassil, she had been born with the rare trait of magic, as well as the skill to use it. That made her countless times luckier than the local inhabitants. Not that she felt that way.

“No, seriously!” Katka crossed her arms. “What do we care? Even if it succeeds, so what? He’ll just get to make his own world item. I don’t see why we must risk—”

“It’s not about him making an item,” Alien said.

Gassil liked him even less. Only a loser would name himself like that, but the old man had. According to the rumors, he had been a professional gamer, which granted him a vast advantage compared to everyone else. The way things were going, he could become head of the Academy. He had the condescending behavior to fit right in.

“It’s about what he might get out,” the old man continued. “The emperor has made it clear: the device is too dangerous unsupervised. So, it falls upon us to provide supervision.”

By us, us you mean everyone else, Gassil thought.

It wouldn’t be the first time that Alien used his position to avoid doing anything. It didn’t help that he was chummy with the emperor, as he liked to remind everyone else. However, if the emperor really gave the order, there was nothing to be done about it. As much as everyone wanted to pretend that they were powerful, compared to the emperor, they weren’t. Magic provided enough tricks to bypass a lot of the awakening process, but when compared to a real awakened, it wouldn’t be enough. Even the annoying archdukes were stronger than mages.

“Who gets the short straw?” Gassil asked.

There were eight of them, though five in effect. Two were off exploring the edges of the land, and Alien didn’t count. That meant that Gassil had a twenty percent chance to get stuck with this. Not the best odds.

“We don’t,” the old man said. “The emperor asked that you do it.”

“You must be kidding!” Gassil hissed.

“You’re closest to the archmage,” Alien continued.

“That’s precisely why I’ll be the first to be suspected. I was his apprentice for half a year, ages ago, and now I suddenly ask to join the project? He’s not as stupid as you are.”

“Oh, he knows, but he’ll be willing to tolerate you. Or do you think Katka would be a better choice?”

“Who knows? He hasn’t seen her, so maybe he’ll go by looks.”

Of course, it was obvious that wouldn’t work. Every otherworlder would be suspicions, it didn’t matter if the archmage knew about them or not. It wouldn’t be a surprise if an agreement between the emperor and the archmage had already been made and Gassil was already found to be the acceptable spy. Weirder arrangements had taken place in the imperial capital. After all, it was such an arrangement that had allowed Gassil and all the rest to remain alive and able to do as they wished. The only catch was that they had to follow imperial “requests,” just as the one now.

“It’s been decided,” Alien said. “We’ll pass by now and again. Not too often, though. There’s no point in getting the archmage agitated.”

“Don’t. If I come across anything funky, I’ll find a way to send a message to you.”

“As you wish.”

“I still think it’s stupid,” Katka said.

Stupid or not, everyone was aware that they’d go along with it, anyway. Gassil stood up, straightened his robe and left the room. The entrance disappeared behind him, shifting into a wall. Normally, he’d be annoyed that the others were talking behind his back, but right now, he had bigger problems.

The warm breeze swept by, carrying the smell of sea and summer. Neither of which was true. In actuality, the courtyard was barely larger than a town square, however, magic had stretched it up to the horizon in all directions. A multitude of small buildings were about, clustered in one group. Among them were the residences of the high-level mages. Recently Alien had added his building to the mix. If all went well, Gassil was likely to be allowed to have one as well in a few decades. Faster if this mission brought the results, the emperor hoped. That was probably the reason why he hadn’t protested too much after being selected; while he would have preferred not to get involved, the rewards of obedience were plentiful.

“Hel, Gas.” A cloud creature formed next to him as he walked. “How did it go?”

“You could have joined and found out,” the mage replied.

“And listen to all the usual nonsense?” the creature laughed.

“You should have come. There wasn’t much bullshit and I could have used some support.”

“Maybe next time. So, what happened?”

“I’m to join the project,” Gassil whispered. “Emperor’s orders.”

“Wow. The old man really went all out to get rid of you.”

“I doubt that. Didn’t feel like him. I think the emperor’s afraid.”

“Maybe there’s a reason for that. The archmage’s been gathering too many powerful artifacts in one place. That’s enough to make anyone nervous.”

“He’s not the only one.”

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“Maybe, but he is the archmage.”

There was that. It was no secret that mages didn’t like to share, even within their own minute factions. Everyone had something hidden away for personal use and research. Alien himself had an entire underground of artefacts beneath his mansion, including a world item. The archmage, though, was one of three mages who had taken a completely different approach. Instead of hiding anything he could get his hands on, he had declared it Academy property and created a research lab to analyze the properties of the artifacts there. In theory, everyone was granted access. Of course, that was unless in cases of extremely delicate research—which happened almost always. One could almost say that the archmage was hiding his research in plain sight, only he wasn’t even hiding it. Of course, the description of hi activity was so vague, that it failed to convey any adequate information.

“What’s the theory?” the cloud figure asked.

“No one’s sure, but Alien suspects the archmage might try to pull an army.”

“Out of a world item? That would be daring. I almost want to let him try just to see what will happen.”

“You always liked chaos.”

“Artists are supposed to have no limitations.”

The comment made Gassil smile. The mage who controlled the dream creature was said to be the oldest one of the bunch when it came to this world. Not even Alien could be certain of her real name, but she preferred to refer to herself as Leora—a play on words between a constellation and a deity, she liked to say. Supposedly, she had been a popular graffiti artist back on Earth, or so she claimed.

“I think the old fears something more,” Gassil whispered. “He didn’t say it, but I don’t think he’d be that upset about a pinch of dryads.”

“Oh? Know something we don’t?”

“The archmage might be crazy enough to try and drag out item guardians.”

The cloud creature froze, then condensed into a small white sparrow.

“That was anticlimactic,” the bird said. “We can already do that. So, what if he restores the process?”

“You’re missing the point. What if he finds a way to pierce the banishment barrier? All it takes is one portal to have all the old eras to flood the present one. Mages with millions of years’ experience, all of them stronger than any of us.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I see your point. If the old goat does that, humanity will once again tall to the bottom of the food chain. I guess the emperor won’t be too happy.”

No, he wouldn’t, Gassil thought.

While it was said that the emperor was the strongest awakened alive, that wasn’t the case when it came to the past. There were at least three others who had tried to conquer the world, each of which could give him a run for his money at the very least. From what remained in the history tomes, the magic of the copyette emperor was unparalleled, the dryad overlord had the power to turn plants and animals against his enemies, and as for the nymph empress—she could slice the capital in two with one strike of her sword.

“Thanks for the gossip, Gas. It gives me something to think about.”

“Any chance you’ll be showing up at the academy anytime soon?” the mage asked.

“No. I found something interesting here and want to see how it developpes. Do you miss me?”

That was a trick question. There was a time, a decade ago, when Gassil would have said yes. Now he knew better. Leora had the uncanny ability to make everyone she talked to feel special. That’s why she preferred one-on-one talks. There was no telling how the ability functioned. It definitely wasn’t a spell, and it didn’t seem to be music, but even now, after experiencing betrayal half a dozen times, Gassil felt that he owed her.

“No,” he lied. “I don’t miss you. I just want you to be more involved in things.”

“Liar,” the sparrow laughed.

“I’m tired of following Alien around as if he’s the man with the plan.”

“You’re not following him because of that. He’s the mouthpiece of the emperor, and that one has a plan, trust me.”

“If you say so.”

All this time Gassil hadn’t seen the man once. He had seen the glowing suit of armor that passed for the emperor, but unlike most, he knew that to be a fake—nothing but an aether automaton constructed to take the role during important events. Of the group, it was said that only Alien and Leora had seen him in person.

“Take care of yourself, Gas. It’ll be a pity if you mess up.”

“Is that a threat, or are you being nice to me? With you, I can never tell.”

“You know I don’t make threats. And unlike you, I’ll miss you if you’re gone.”

Without another word, the sparrow lost form, becoming a cloud of vapor that dissolved in the air. Gassil knew that Leora wouldn’t physically be of any help, but he had hoped that she’d provide at least some sort of useful information. For one thing, she’d known the archmage long before he’d reached his current position.

Guess I’m all alone on this one, the mage thought.

Has it been any different? The echo in his realm asked. It had been given to him the day he had entered the academy—a metalin said to come with the personality and knowledge of the current archmage. Every mage was required to receive the echo and place it in their awakening realm. However, in-between the nagging, it provided some actually good advice. The only person you can rely on is always yourself.

You seem to be taking this well. Excited at the prospect of entering the real world? If the archmage succeeds in his project, that’s what could happen.

And what will I do there? Besides, maybe it’s a good idea to actually find out what the real goal of the project is before you jump to conclusions?

Find the real goal. Gassil nodded.

When it came to the archmage, not even the emperor could be certain what was going on.

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