Magi Legend

by Andrew Dobell

  “If you’re sure, then great, go. I hope you find what you need,” Royston said.

  “Thank you,” she said before turning to Gentle Water. “Shall we?”

  “Of course, is it just you?” he asked her.

  Amanda looked around the table.

  “Ooh, can I go?” Liz asked, bouncing up and down in her chair in excitement.

  “Of course,” Amanda said.

  “Awesome,” Liz said and jumped up, moving around the table to Amanda and Gentle Water.

  Amanda looked at Maria, who simply said, “You go. I’ll be here when you get back.” Amanda nodded and smiled affectionately at her.

  “We’ll monitor you from here,” Shaun said. “Keep a Link open so I can hear what’s going on.”

  “Can do,” Amanda said, and immediately opened the Mental Link to Shaun and Vanessa. She turned back around to face Gentle Water and smiled. “Ready,” she said.

  “It will take two jumps to get there, and it will be cold,” Gentle Water said.

  “Good point, well made.” Amanda smiled and pulled on the local Essentia to fix the ambient temperature of her body and the air closest to it. She also cast the same effect on Liz, warning her before she worked her Magic.

  Essentia suddenly flared around Gentle Water and wrapped about Amanda and Liz, folding in on itself and pulling them into it. With a rush of air and a flash of light, Amanda had a brief moment of seeing a lush landscape of dense jungle undergrowth, perhaps the Amazon Basin, before the scene changed once more and suddenly everything turned white.

  Amanda found herself standing on a snow-covered ridge next to Liz and Gentle Water. The wind whipped about them, blowing Amanda and Liz’s long hair wildly about their heads, forcing them to tie it back to keep it out of their eyes.

  The environment was freezing cold. They were standing in snow halfway up to their knees in a very bleak, almost entirely white landscape. Amanda, still in the ripped jeans and short-sleeved top she’d worn in Arizona watched as Gentle Water pulled out a woollen beanie hat from his coat pocket and pulled it over his bald head.

  Mountains rose up into the misty sky, and in a depression that cut into the side of the range, she could see various prefab buildings with some of them linked together to create a complex of rooms. She could see the last dying remains of a now ineffectual Aegis that had been left to fade to nothing. Within the camp, there were several hot spots of Magic in front of the vast temple that had been cut into the rock face, no doubt the Magical traps that Gentle Water had told them about.

  “We walk in. Less risk,” Gentle Water said darkly, peering at the view ahead of them.

  Amanda nodded. She agreed. They could Port in, but there could still be a few alarm effects in there, which they had a better chance of spotting if they moved cautiously.

  From what she could make out, maybe a dozen people moved about the camp, working machinery as they dismantled the buildings and packed things away. The large size of the base meant that moving through the area would not be difficult and even without Magic, they could most likely go undetected. Always better to be safe than sorry, though.

  “Let’s do this quietly,” Amanda said, and with a working of Magic, bent light around them, rendering them invisible to the Riven mortals in the camp. They set off, trudging through the snow, their Magic keeping them at a pleasant Goldilocks-temperature. Not too warm and not too cold. Amanda also took the time to bolster her Aegis, making sure her defences were in place and ready for any surprises they might find.

  Before long, they were walking into the camp, through the outlying buildings, some of which were partially dismantled, exposing their insides to the environment.

  Wandering through the remaining buildings, not getting too close to the workers, Amanda looked for anything that might shed any light on Mr Black’s operation. As they went, she sent her senses into the buildings and looked through the rooms inside. She discovered nothing at first, but when she found what she believed to be the operations centre of the site, she paused and brought her Magic to bear once more, sending her mind’s eye back through time to see if she might see Mr Black himself. But her efforts were hampered when she found some kind of Magical interference preventing her from scrying back to certain times and places within the building and the camp in general.

  She pushed further back and before long, caught sight of Mr Black as he was about to move into the tunnels within the temple itself, probably before he found the Artifact. Amanda frowned. Whatever the item was, it preferred to remain hidden from casual view. Like the Golden Book.

  She looked further back and saw visions of Mr Black speaking with people in the control rooms and his arrival into the site. She also saw Angel, still hiding her true power. Angel seemed to be rather good at this, and if Amanda hadn’t known better from previous experience, she would have assumed her Magi rank to be an Apprentice or an Adept at best. Eventually, she found herself watching a meeting between Mr Black and his team where he spoke about an Orb and his plan to use it to kill the Archons.

  Replaying the meeting, this time she focused on Angel’s face in particular. Amanda couldn’t help but be impressed by Angel’s self-control when Mr Black spoke about his plan to kill her masters—never once had she let her façade drop, or her emotions show.

  “Hey, guys, let me share this with you,” Amanda said, allowing her two companions to watch the conversation as well. Once it was over she asked, “What do you think?”

  “Good find,” Gentle Water said.

  “Kill an Archon? How’s he going to do that?” Liz asked.

  “That’s a very good question. I don’t know enough about these items to say if that’s even possible. G.W.?”

  “I could not say for sure,” he said.

  “That looked like a closed meeting, I doubt anyone here will know more,” Amanda said, indicating the workers nearby.

  “Agreed,” Gentle Water said.

  “Didn’t you look back through time when you were here before?” Amanda asked Gentle Water.

  “I dislike using Time Magic. I have mentioned the Weavers to you before,” he said.

  “Aah, yes,” Amanda said, suddenly remembering one of her lessons back in the Irish countryside. All Magic carried an element of risk. It didn’t happen often, but if you lost control of an effect, it could cause damage to yourself and others, but one of the riskiest forms of Magic was Time Magic. Messing about with the timeline was a sure-fire way to gain the Weaver’s attention. They were shadowy creatures that policed the timeline and dealt harshly with those who abused it. Few had met them and survived, but the stories of them were numerous. Some said that the worst offenders were simply erased from history as if they’d never existed.

  The threat of the Weavers could often be enough to put even the most powerful Magi off of Time Magic entirely, preferring to avoid using it at all rather than tempt fate.

  To the best of Amanda’s knowledge, looking back through time, speeding up or slowing time down, or travelling forward in time didn’t attract such deadly attention from the Weavers. It usually happened when someone travelled back through time or changed something in history that would affect things going forward. Basically, if you caused a paradox, then you could expect a visit from a Weaver.

  Amanda hadn’t done any such thing. But just the mention of the Weavers made her stomach flip as she suddenly doubted herself. Deep down, she knew she’d done nothing to attract their attention, but she went through what she’d just done in her mind anyway, just to be sure.

  She totally understood if someone didn’t want to take such risks, though. Better safe than sorry when it came to the Weavers.

  “Right then, shall we check out the tunnels?” Amanda suggested, refocusing on their mission at hand.

  “Lead on,” Liz said.

  Heading towards the back of the camp and the temple carved into the mountainside, they found a tent just in front of the entrance, placed there to help keep the elements at bay from those who had on
ce worked inside.

  Feeling intensely curious, Amanda walked into the tent and saw a roughly circular tunnel bored into the ice that had long ago filled the temple. Mats had been placed on the floor to prevent anyone from slipping, and cables snaked down into the semi-darkness to lights and other machinery.

  Not wanting to hang around, Amanda walked ahead, dropping her invisibility effect as she went and started to descend into the depths. The wall-mounted lights had been spaced well apart from each other and cast a dim light into the tunnels. Their shadows played across the walls, causing her to startle a couple of times from the strange movements. The path seemed quite clear, and after what seemed like a very long time, they came to a short stretch of tunnel that had been made much wider and was also better lit than the others. Work lights lit up the dead-end of ice up ahead, while silent machines stood about the space like strange monoliths of an alien culture.

  Amanda stepped forward slowly, looking about her, heading towards the well-lit back wall.

  “Careful,” Liz said, her voice creating strange echoes that danced with the sound of their footsteps through the ancient complex.

  “Sure, sure,” Amanda said and continued forward.

  She stopped just before the back wall, standing amongst the machines, tools, and work lights, looking at the ice-wall before her. It looked like two things had been removed from the ice. At about waist height, a tennis-ball-sized, clean-cut borehole had been cut into the ice. Nearby, a robot arm that looked like it might be able to reach inside the hole stood immobile. Amanda guessed that had been where the Artifact that Mr Black had referred to as the Orb had been resting. But below that, a huge hole had been created, or blasted into the ice, with chunks of it all about the floor around her, as if something had burst out of the ice itself.

  A quick look through time proved to be fruitless. Liz stood next to her, with Gentle Water close behind.

  “Is that where…?” Liz asked.

  “Looks that way,” Amanda answered. “Whatever yoke was in there is gone now, I can’t see us finding much else here,” Amanda said.

  Suddenly, a small monitor on a trolley popped into life with static on the screen, causing Amanda and her friends to spin and look at it.

  “What the bleedin’ hell?” Amanda said.

  “Ah, crap,” Liz exclaimed in surprise, but Gentle Water remained quiet.

  Amanda eyed the monitor for a moment and stepped forward, sensing only electricity rather than Magic at work here.

  Then, just as suddenly as it had turned on, a signal came through, and a picture of a wrinkled old face appeared on the screen. She recognised Mr Black right away.

  “Amanda, you found my dig site. Well done. I’m afraid you’re too late, though, we have what we need from there,” said Mr Black, his voice scratchy and worn.

  “Mr Black, what are you up to?” Amanda asked.

  “You seem to be a clever girl, I’m sure you can work it out. I’m afraid I cannot divulge the rest of my plans to you. I’m sure you understand. You might be my daughter, but I’m just not able to trust you with that information yet.”

  “I only have your word on that, though. What proof do you have that I’m your child?”

  “Did I lie? I think you know better than that,” he answered.

  She did. She couldn’t explain it, like so much in her life these days, but it didn’t seem logical. She just knew he’d told her the truth. “You didn’t lie,” she admitted.

  “Then know that I am sincere when I say that I would love to spend some time with you and get to know you better, but my plans are too important, and I cannot let anything jeopardise them. I’m hoping we can catch up later, once all this is over with.”

  “You mean your plans to kill the Archons?” she asked.

  Mr Black frowned. “Good day to you, Amanda,” he said before the screen went dead.

  “Well, that went well,” Liz quipped.

  ***

  On a nearby rock face overlooking the camp, the dark figure squatted on a ledge and shivered. She’d been asleep in the ice for so long that she felt like she herself had been made of ice on first waking up. Although, after breaking out of the ice, her movement and feeling soon returned and she felt a little more normal. Draining two of the men she found in the tunnels of their blood had also proved to be very helpful. As she looked down, she saw three figures exit the tunnels, each of them Magi, and all three keeping out of sight of the Riven mortals.

  She felt like she had much to do. It had been so long for her, trapped in that ice. But finally, she’d been set free. She could feel her power and connection to Essentia returning, although her mind still felt a little foggy on some of the details of her life and her ability with Magic.

  She hadn’t forgotten the Orb, though. That item would be forever dear to her, and waking to find it stolen had been troubling, to say the least. Although, it could be that its absence from her vicinity could have been the trigger for her waking up. Whatever the reason, one thing remained clear in her mind: she wanted it back, and she would make the thief pay for their actions.

  Luckily for her, the workers she’d eaten had also given her some rather useful information on just who it was who had taken the item, and where she might find him.

  - Nowhere

  She had been through this same ritual the past two days, but today would be different. Today she would not hesitate, she would not be afraid, and she would do as her mistress asked of her. Then she wouldn’t be beaten or kicked or cut or hurt again. She would receive praise and love from her beloved mistress. She hated it when Yasmin was displeased with her. She loved her mistress and only wanted to please her.

  Yasmin walked ahead of her, and Alicia found she couldn’t help but stare at her mistress. She wanted to look like that. She wanted to be perfect in every way, too.

  Finally, they entered a room, and again the same woman sat on the floor before her, her face filled with tears and fear as Yasmin handed Alicia her huge kukri dagger, its curved blade feeling heavy in her hand.

  “Cut off her arm,” Yasmin said, her voice calm and measured as if she’d just asked her to pass the sugar.

  Alicia took the dagger and walked forward. She looked at what was left of the woman’s left arm; the one Yasmin had cut off yesterday when she had hesitated for the second time. She also remembered being dragged off by Nate, who had punished her once again back in her room.

  She didn’t blame Nate. She had displeased her mistress, so the punishment had been warranted.

  This time though, she didn’t hesitate. She just acted. Pulling out the woman’s right arm, she brought the heavy dagger down on it as hard as she could, burying the blade deep into the bone of the woman’s upper arm.

  Blood sprayed across the dagger and into her face as she levered the blade free and swung it again to the sound of the woman’s screams. It took her four hits before the arm dropped away from the woman’s torso and hung limply in her hand. She felt surprised at the weight of it.

  “Don’t stop there, she has two more limbs,” Yasmin said in an offhanded manner.

  Under the Sea

  Over the Pacific Ocean

  The last time she’d been on a huge cargo plane like this, Angel had been on her way to the South Pole and the dig that had led to this moment. Things had progressed so far now that she actually felt somewhat surprised at how well it had gone.

  The huge cavernous body of the plane stood empty apart from the people standing within it. Angel felt a little out of place, her skirt suit probably wasn’t really suited to what she was about to be involved in, but she didn’t really care. She liked looking good. As she stood listening to Mr Black, she kept her feet a shoulder-width apart to keep from falling over as the plane flew through the night sky.

  Around her were twenty highly trained and very well-equipped men and women in black combat gear, complete with helmets and masks and high-powered weaponry strapped to their bodies. Through her Aetheric Sight, she could make out a rang
e of Magical items upon them, including powerful Force Shields and enhanced armour. She knew they would be faster and more deadly than anyone they came up against.

  To her right, stood Isha in similar clothing to the troops, but without the guns, headgear, and Magical items. Beyond him, Mr Black leant on his walking stick, a focused frown on his forehead as he glanced up at Echo, who Angel had come to learn was Mr Black’s other daughter, and a powerful Magus.

  This had been a week for revelations, it seemed. Seeing Amanda again at the power plant had been a surprise, and as much as she hated the red-headed bimbo, she couldn’t deny feeling slightly grateful that Amanda hadn’t said anything that might have given her away. If she ever got her chance, she’d quite like to silence Amanda for good.

  She knew Yasmin would be unhappy with her if she did, though. She’d already expressed to Angel that Amanda was not to be harmed. For now, Angel would play along. While, going along with Yasmin’s plans had allowed her to finally reach the upper echelons of the Syndicate organisation, Angel had decided that her loyalty to Yasmin would soon come to an end. She just wanted to see how Mr Black’s plan played out first.

  Of course, walking away from Yasmin was never easy, but she’d resolved to make it work, one way or another.

  Angel doubted that Mr Black would be too happy with her either if she killed Amanda, given the news that she might also be his daughter. She had no idea if that was true, but he seemed to believe it, so maybe it was.

  “Today will be another momentous day,” Mr Black said, addressing the troops. “Today, we take our first steps toward freeing ourselves from the bondage of the Archons. What I am going to ask of you over the next few days will not be easy. You are going to have to do some difficult things, but you must understand that we do this for the greater good. You have all worked with me for a long time. You have all seen things that are not easily explained, and you know the true and very real dangers that lurk out there in the shadows. They want to enslave humanity, they want to bring back their masters and conquer the world, but we will stop them. We will stand in their way and say, ‘No!’ We have some of the tools now. We have the two items that will allow us to take the fight to these so-called Archons, these dark gods worshipped by some of the Magi out there. I have dedicated my life to fighting them and have built this organisation to do just that. I have brought in Magi like these standing next to me who are sympathetic to our cause and will help us finish this great work. You have already served me with distinction, but these will be some of the toughest days of your lives. Not because you will be fighting against Magi, but because you will have to fight against your own kind, against mortals like you and me. In order to serve the greater good and to end the threat of the Archons and the supernatural, we need tools that are in the hands of governments like the United States of America and which are guarded by their highly-trained men. But I trust you, I have faith in you, and I know you will not let me down.”