Dark Legacy

by Valery Starsky

  Aero instantly jumped out of the wall, standing very close to them. It was not necessary to explain something to the main Guardian of the palace, because he knew everything. It was here when Yar felt the power of the Guardian to the fullest. It seemed the disturbing voice of Aero was filled with every grain of sand in the palace.

  “Attention! Danger! Perturbation of the palace and the nearby territory has been launched. Eighty seconds are left before the rework. Immediately take refuge within the palace or retreat at least ten miles from the epicenter.”

  The imaginary watch sounded with an alarm bell, as if they were beating a gong with a sledgehammer. Cursing, Yar jumped to the top of the central tower.

  It dawned on him, What has this ancient prankster conceived? What kind of perturbation? It sounds ominous, almost like ‘transformation’.

  When the score of blows, which were heard across the whole district, approached the limit, Yar clutched at the edge of a powerful battlefield more firmly. He decided to play it safe.

  It was like an earthquake jolt. All the land around the palace shook, and the river bubbled. Yar saw brightly shining fragments burst from the palace. He counted sixteen. They took off quickly, almost with the speed of sound. The farther they flew, the brighter they became. After several heartbeats, the clan leader noticed some flickering. There was the impression that some kind of sparkly objects were crashing into these formations rapidly.

  “Crystals! They’re collecting crystals. Wow, they are increasing!”

  Vey the Shamrock’s very pleased voice sounded from behind him. “They are collecting the right ingredients. According to one ancient treatise on magical architecture, this process can take years, but here,” he moved his hand, “the masters would manage it in an hour.”

  “What is it?” Yar asked, impressed as he peered into the distance.

  The spectacle was both exciting and interesting.

  “You called it ‘a Coconut’,” Vey said with a grin.

  “Okay, but still…”

  “If I knew for sure ... I can only guess. The rest of the information, alas, is hidden from us, and I am sure that there are no wizards in the Belt of the Worlds who know more. I was only able to disclose the following information”

  Metropolitan Architectural Amplifier (Highest Rank)

  Energy complex (16 combat tower sources)

  Exterior walls (16 battle towers, reinforcement, protective magical equipment)

  Communication complex (roads, portals, waterways, public sewers, bridges, harbor—intuitively)

  Landscape Architecture (parks, squares, gardens, the geoplastics, monuments, squares, embankments - intuitively)

  Full training complex (life support and study cluster, entertainment and recreation cluster, imitation and training cluster).

  This was the only information available.

  Yar was dumb with surprise. Only a few moments later, he was still able to ask with difficulty, “How many points did you fail to open and use?”

  “Twelve,” Vey said with a little regret.

  “Really?” At such moments, he felt like a sandworm compared to ancient wizards. Yar was like a grain of sand lying on the altar of the ancient craftsmen.

  Meanwhile, something was moving on the horizon: the cylinders changed noticeably. Some of them became huge and golden: four of them were bright burgundy and five yards high with a cross-section of around a yard. A small, dazzlingly shining pin appeared from below these formations.

  This must be a cutter or a scalpel, Yar guessed.

  Fabulous events followed next. The masters, as Vey the Shamrock called them, instantly approached, stopping as if on an invisible border about five miles from the palace walls. They lined up, hanging motionless in that position for several minutes. The burgundy cylinders hung and slowly changed darker in color, and the golden ones broke off and flew one after the other, tracing the space in a circle and leaving a wide neon strip behind them. Everything happened very quickly.

  One could break their neck by watching them , Yar thought, following the flight of the cutters.

  On the second lap, they began to move like the pistons of a row engine, up and down, up and down.

  “Contour! Vey, they are cutting the contour out of space.”

  “You’re right,” Vey answered, swallowing and stroking his beard as he kept watch of the current action.

  It was possible to recognize the contours of the carved loopholes of the fortifications and the spires of the towers. The golden cylinders continued to speed up, decreasing in size, and some of them went inside this grand scheme. Very soon, it was impossible to keep track of the movements of the skilled architects—they moved too fast.

  When, finally, everything stopped for a moment, Yar understood that the scheme was ready. He had no doubt. Even by eye, this hardened frame was clearly much stronger than alloy steel. After brief seconds of downtime, the maroon cylinders intensified and vibrated. Yar screamed with excitement, and even Vey the Shamrock joined him. Those who were within the palace began shouting, too.

  The surface bulged up within the trajectory of the flying cylinders and, like flowing water, it quickly filled the space along the frame lines. A second later, there was a monolith of the same maroon color as the creators themselves.

  Unfortunately for Yaroslav, he didn’t see the completion of truly spectacular action and the so-called finishing work, as he received a message from Goh the Gray Raven. After reading it, Yar warned his mentor and jumped to the proposed coordinates. At the same moment, having insured himself, he gave the order to the guard, “Lyan, attention! Full combat equipment required!”

  ***

  Yar jumped out of the portal very effectively. Dressed in black protective armor with the depiction of a dragon and armed with two crackling power swords, he took the Shadow battle stance.

  After a brief word from Goh, he quickly figured out what was going on and immediately threw the corpse into the Cage of Oblivion. Then he once again noted that with the helpers in the aura, his speed of decision-making increased greatly. Straightening, Yar realized who was in front of him. The man bowed.

  “Your Majesty, Your Highness, Mr. Rector, Goh. Please, forgive me for disrespect and impoliteness of my arrival. I thought Goh the Gray Raven and the Dark Elven Princess needed help.”

  The Dark Ruler spoke first. “This is a meritorious aspiration, young man. As I understand it, no one will know about him,” the Ruler pointed to the place where the corpse had just lain, “and he won’t be reborn?”

  While Teko was speaking, Yar decided to improve his negotiating skills. He had no doubt that this would be a serious conversation. He instantly moved to the Constructor. It took no more than a minute for him to rid the ruler of the EWIS, and Teco didn’t even notice. However, Eagle Tamp understood everything but said nothing. Yar bowed.

  “Your Majesty, this elf has disappeared without a trace, and he is no longer in the records of the Imperial Chancellery.”

  “Great job, junior! I suggest we need a meeting. At lunch, for example?”

  Yar bowed deeply. “Your Majesty, I will answer honestly. There are complex magical processes running by the artifact of the ancients around my palace at the moment. My presence is required there. Therefore, I have to ask you to postpone the conversation if it is possible.”

  “How much time do you need?” Teco asked calmly.

  “Three hours,” Yar replied firmly.

  Teco Black Rock and Eagle Tamp looked at each other. Everyone agreed. Only the princess still kept her hands on her face...

  Yar opened the portal and mentioned casually, “Master, I’ve destroyed your EWIS. You can use magic now. Good-bye.”

  Yar managed to see the stunned ruler’s face before disappearing into the portal.

  ***

  At first, he felt regret that he didn’t have time to see the process of creating the university, then he experienced unlimited admiration.

  The huge battle towers with luminous spire
s were the most striking feature. There were twelve gold and four maroon towers, which, most likely, were located in accordance with four corners of the Earth.

  Vey distracted Yar from admiring the building.

  “Stop staring. Do it later. I found what we need most of all: a smart place with amazing functionality. I think you should spend all your time before the entrance exams here. After all, wizards knowingly bow before the old school of ancient elves. We are only pathetic fragments of their former greatness.”

  “What have you found?”

  “There are three platforms for exercising and practicing spells and one general dueling room. Hurry up! I can’t wait to fight you in battle. I haven’t had a duel for ages.”

  Yar teleported. It was a huge spacious hall, the size of a football field: about ninety yards in length and forty or fifty in width. Yar tried to poke the wall for the sake of interest, and it seemed neither solid nor rigid, only slightly springy.

  “Look!” Vey shouted, and three large, spiral-shaped bolts of lightning struck the opposite wall. The blow was as if cut off against the wall, and immediately a huge lined target appeared.

  “Wow! I didn’t know about this,” Vey cried out with burning eyes, struck again with great enthusiasm, and hitting the very center of the target, marked in bright red. A message had appeared.

  Triple Lightning Spell Strike

  Accuracy 100%

  Power 4 500 KW

  Temperature 27,770

  The hall seemed to just be waiting for these two blows, and, of course, the energy expended.

  There followed a hard and impassive voice, “The main dueling room welcomes those who want to fight and is ready. Name your terms.”

  “One-on-one duel to the red sector. The weapon is combat magic without amplifiers. We’ll start in twenty minutes.”

  “Accepted. Duel reserved. Opponents: Yar Row Dark and Vey Row Shamrock. The weapon is combat magic without amplifiers. The end of the duel: the red sector of one of the combatants. The duel will begin in twenty minutes.”

  The countdown began, and a large transparent display showing both avatars with plenty of incomprehensible designations and multi-colored scales emerged in front of them.

  Vey spoke, “Yar, before the start of the duel, I have to explain something to you. I’ve never been in the dueling rooms of the ancients before, but I read about them. I think we are lucky. Many people will be eager to study here. By the way, I think that tools like this hall, and in general the whole complex, are the only ones in the entire Belt. Therefore, it would be better to train people, dwarves and allies thoroughly first, and then appear in the Belt of the Worlds. In Altarum, of course, there is a similar hall, but it is much worse than this one. Now for the main thing. You must understand that this is not just a hall in which you can fearlessly wield magic without endangering the other people living nearby.

  You can use any magic here. You can get a whole ocean or desert if you want. The analytical department of the hall will literally show everything at the end of a training session or a duel: how much energy was used, the peak power of the source or the speed of replenishing it to normal value, the effectiveness of the chosen tactics, spells, the speed of using them or portal transitions, as well as the degree of damage received. This is a great source of improvement.”

  “I agree,” Yaroslav said in admiration.

  Then he heard, Be very careful, Master! Vey is a very skillful duelist. There are no other such experienced wizards in the Belt of the Worlds .

  Thank you, Eva. I will be very attentive, don’t worry.

  Yar looked at Vey. They stood at a distance of twenty yards from each other. This was the usual distance for magical duels.

  “Have you changed your mind yet?” Vey the Shamrock asked smiling.

  “No!” Yar answered. “As we’ve agreed before, it will be a purely magical duel.”

  “Duel!” the voice of the hall roared.

  Chapter 38. A Duel

  I t smelled of burning dust and ozone. Yar was thrown from side to side with each powerful blow, like a spider web in heavy gusts of wind. He miraculously managed to keep his feet, however, though sometimes he was forced to lean on his hands.

  Yar felt bad, understanding distinctly that his coach, who was there, behind his shields, really wanted to destroy him now. Oh, God! It seemed as though Vey could really kill him with ease.

  Moreover, Yar saw almost nothing to help him: there was only a dark thunderstorm veil and the flashes of his magical defense blanketed all around.

  Bang! Bang!

  His own defense smote upon his ears, at least, Yar thought it was the case. His use of atomic scans proved inconclusive and required too much energy.

  Heck! Yar thought. What should I do?

  He couldn’t think too hard, as he received the next strike. Yar felt like a defenseless ball under a spiked boot.

  The clan leader had to strain as he tried to keep his balance, all the while pouring energy hastily into his weakened ‘Thunder shield’.

  Despite all the stormy ‘show’ he was playing out, Yar felt how at times his energy component decreased. At such moments, it became clear to Yar that if nothing was done, his thunderstorm would dry up like rain over a desert, and Vey would get to him.

  A couple of times, Yar tried to open up and strike back at his opponent, but he never had the time. He could only just make out the form of Vey the Shamrock before he had to accelerate urgently and go back into his dull defenses, parrying the next incredibly quick strikes of his opponent who was moving along an odd, twitching trajectory...

  It was his miscalculation. Yar understood now that he shouldn’t have chosen his present tactic. His plan for the duel was simple, but now it seemed utterly stupid. Yar had hoped to spend some time in defense, and then he would figure out along the way.

  Damn, I’m a fool! He didn’t have the usual words; now only curses flew from his lips.

  His next attempt to get out from under his own shield had unpleasant consequences: sharp pain and epileptic shaking, followed by the sensation of flying and hitting the wall. Before losing consciousness, Yar felt himself plunging, as if in soft warm rubber, and he vaguely heard a loud announcement about the end of the duel.

  Yar recovered quickly: there was no pain or fatigue, and everything would be fine if it weren’t for the annoying reality.

  I lost.

  Someone laughed nearby and carelessly, even mockingly, kicked Yar in the shoulder.

  “Hey, get up! You’re not on the beach now, Yar. Come on; I will teach you a lesson.” As Vey the Shamrock’s voice rang out, Yar noted the edge of sarcasm.

  Yar jumped up, not paying attention to the wizard’s mocking grin. Instead, he looked at the wall intently. There was a twenty-inch-deep imprint of his body that smoothed out right before his eyes.

  A thought flashed through Yar’s head: What the crap! That’s pretty cool!

  Yar took a deep breath and answered, “Vey, thank you for the science and the duel. You beat me well.”

  Vey grunted, shaking his head.

  “To be honest, you’re not completely bad. By the way, it was the hall that brought you back to your senses. So, thunder lover, do you understand your mistakes?”

  The clan leader grinned bitterly and nodded.

  “Yes, teacher. I admit that I don’t have the skills necessary for a real magical duel,” Yar answered gloomily.

  The wizard shrugged but didn’t agree with Yar.

  “Don’t despair so strongly, Yar Row. You have the main advantage: the incredible power of the sources and your quick reaction rate. If you had used portals and your twilight bow, we would probably still be fighting now. Now the most important thing is that you succeed well in design and creation. One might say, this is above all praise. Therefore, in the shortest possible time, you need to create or rework a group of new spells for use over short distances. The main criteria: the speed at implementation and impact and the efficiency.”

&nbs
p; “Clear!” Yar cheered up and was about to say something else, but Vey interrupted him.

  “Look at my ‘Duel Lightning’.”

  He showed Yar the triple-twisted lightning that he had seen before, only it was short now — about eight yards.

  The frowning wizard explained immediately, “Well, tell me. Do you really need lightning, beating at a distance of fifteen hundred yards, when you are within the city? A short one will be more necessary and much faster. Imagine that you are in a closed wet space somewhere in the catacombs soaked with water running along the stone walls.”

  “Done, Mentor.” Yar nodded.

  “What would happen if you were to use big lightning? The powerful lightning wouldn’t only finish off your enemy, but it would also harm you with a high degree of probability. The shields are used the same way. I think you need a small but very mobile barrier—especially in the place of strike. Your shield has to repel an attack. Surely, you should think quickly.”

  Vey stood for a while, swaying from toe to heel and pondering something, and then he continued. “You seemed to be very smart. Remember: quick hit, quick move, and quick defense are the main success criteria for a combat wizard.”

  Yar bowed and thanked his teacher, assuring him that from tomorrow he would be engaged in developing spells and honing his abilities for duels.

  Vey listened and approved, obviously being satisfied with such meritorious zeal.

  After a brief conversation about their daily life, they decided to convene a meeting with Elsie, the guardian, and, of course, the ubiquitous Gelic and Blacky.

  The spontaneous meeting pleased Yar. The participants did not interrupt each other, and they spoke concisely. It was decided that Vey Row would inspect the treasuries of the ancients, and he would also deal closely with the affairs of the university. Fortunately, there were many applicants for the vacancy of a mentor in any area of ​​magic or martial arts. The guardian of the Palace of Capture would continue to prepare for the meeting with the Emperor’s inspector and the light elves. The Shadows were going to work on the resettlement and inspection of the walls and towers to prepare for a possible defense of the palace.