A Shuffling of Planets (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 3)

by Daniel Ruth

  "Like the one that showed up at the portal and almost killed Starman?" the child asked. His manner was anything but that of a child.

  "No," replied the alien in question in a deep resonant voice. "That one was obviously a powerful wizard. He opened a portal, summoned his eldritch horror through and kept us from following. He also incapacitated me and destroyed your city's greatest monument. From Patriot's report, all the Professor did was inconvenience a few demon insects."

  I stared at him in surprise. Never had I heard someone so completely wrong. The string of assumptions and stupidity drizzling from his mouth almost made my brain hurt.

  I almost stood up to defend myself. It was completely unexpected that they blamed me for some random vampire god kidnapping Diego. Also, they were the ones that prevented me from leaving, not the other way around. Lastly, there was absolutely no monument destruction. I think.

  Most importantly, how dare they call my cool little cantrips weak magic. Admittedly it was all student magic, however, I thought I had combined the usage of them rather well. Sure, I could have summoned my swords and leaped into the devouring insect horde but I chose the path of wisdom and craft. I unequivocally did the smart thing. I absolutely felt insulted.

  While I was stewing in my indignation and contemplating summoning my sword and showing the alien exactly how weak they were, Starman continued his bogus analysis of my powers. A grating sound may have been faintly heard from my teeth as I ground them together.

  "Anyway, as Starman has stated, this person is a completely different mage than the one that was present when Diego was taken through." Patriot's phrasing was slightly more neutral. Enough to enable me to put a cap on my seething emotions. "He has brought to my attention that what we thought may be an infestation, just might be more serious. If you would let us know more?"

  "Certainly," I nodded as I stood up. "I most recently came from a more advanced Earth analog..."

  "Excuse me," the cheetah woman raised her hand. "Could you clarify what an Earth analog is?"

  "Oh, for goodness sake," spat Mage. "I barely watch the news and they mentioned a parallel Earth, just like ours. Even though the rips in space haven't opened into one you can't see a news special for five minutes without hearing them chatter on."

  Dash, gave a sweet, insincere smile to Mage but stayed silent. "Right, anyway on that Earth a Demon Lord named Vatapi created a master circle, most probably linked to ninety-nine others..."

  "What's a circle?" Dash interrupted again. I suppose this was more valid since the others had a vaguely confused look in their eyes.

  "It’s a type of magic. Wards and circles use symbols and inscriptions that have a close relationship with the Firmament to create semi-permanent magic functions and spell structures." I noticed their looks again and barreled forward. "Like magical programming languages!"

  After a moment of silence, Dash asked another question. "What's the firmament?"

  My shoulders slumped slightly. "Just... think of it as 'magic land'."

  "Oh! I see."

  "That makes sense."

  Muffled grunts of understanding and nodding broke out. I started to get a headache. Maybe I should have started with something easier like an ad campaign for werewolves.

  "Anyway, he chained ten worlds together through this master circle, cut off contact to any worlds outside of these linked worlds and tried to sweep through the worlds with an army of demons."

  "What kind of demon is he," Match asked. "All we've seen is the little insect demons. They are nasty but hardly a demon invasion we would worry about.

  "We killed Vatapi's corporeal body..." I saw a hand creep up. "Vatapi is the name of the Rakshasa demon lord."

  "He must have been terribly powerful to do that," Dash said, her mouth forming a small "o" of amazement.

  "He is," I began. "He is a demon lord, so it's natural that he had the power of a medium-sized god. He also is brilliant when it comes to circles and wards. From what I can tell he has been creating this circle matrix for about a century. I examined the master circle closely and although I can follow what he did, it would take me years of study to even hope to replicate it. Um. That is if I wanted to for some reason..."

  "You sound like you admire him," Dash stated with a grin. "What did he look like?"

  "About twenty-five feet tall, dark brown fur, his head rather looked like a tiger's despite the odd color scheme."

  "He sounds handsome," Dash said with a sigh. Her delicate hand tapped on her case absently.

  I paused in consternation. That wasn't the reaction I was expecting. "I suppose if you’re a shifter or a Rakshasa that would be true. I would point out that if the demons succeed, these ten worlds will become a microcosm of the layers of hell."

  "Would that be so bad?" Dash asked. I started to get an ominous feeling. Paying more attention to the room, I noted that the other heroes had a rather blank look. I had been wrapped up in answering questions so I was unsure when this had come about. They weren't looking at me though. They were looking at Dash. No, that wasn't right they were looking at the case she was playing with.

  "I would have to go with... yes," I said slowly as I examined the cheetah woman. The one member that hadn't been described by Diego or even mentioned. The only other person in the room who wasn't doing a zombie impression.

  That case she was tapping on could be considered to be a box. I hated premonitions. You never knew what they meant until it was too late. I had a bad feeling I knew what was in that container.

  "You're not a hero cheetah or even a shifter," I said with a sigh, dejectedly putting my hands in my pocket. "You’re a Rakshasa. Very bold."

  That case hadn't moved a bit throughout this entire time. I was guessing it was attached to the table. I made a motion to move towards the demon. With a blur and crack as the sound barrier was smashed, I found Starman in front of me, gazing blankly at me.

  "Ah, ah, ah," the attractive cat demon said shaking a well-manicured finger from side to side at me. "You don't want to get my servants all riled up."

  Well darn. Durmont had just sat there like a lump when the last rakshasa and I had clashed. "Programmed responses. Smart. Smarter than Baron Samedi."

  "Who? Oh, him. He never lived up to his potential. He never deserved to be father's right-hand man in that world. I had heard that he had been sent back screaming in rage. Was that you? I suppose it's fortunate that I took some precautions."

  She made a small gesture at the heroes frozen in their seats. Her other hand opened the lid on the case. Inside was the expected familiar looking crystal. The same type I had found in Durmont's office and the council's chamber.

  "You certainly took advantage of Diego's absence. He's barely been gone a month."

  "Demon hunters," she shrugged. "Can't live with them, can't... well enough said."

  "Undead hunter," I corrected. "Did you perhaps make a deal with Vanth? The timing seems a bit coincidental."

  "Diego never limited himself to the undead, so he had to go," Dash said with a sinister grin. "We had a method to allow Vanth to keep his most loyal minions tied to him. All it took was a promise to tell him and he was delighted to take a thorn out of our paw. That last fight was a bit messier than we expected but it all worked out."

  "And he trusted the word of a demon?"

  "We never lie," the demon lady said with a wicked smile.

  "The truth you tell may as well be a lie," I said with a shrug. It was true that while making contract demons were bound to the truth and to the resulting oath. However, their capability to twist the truth was almost a supernatural ability in and of itself. "So, what now? You seem to have me at your mercy. With Starman here, there's hardly anything I can do to defend myself."

  "Yes. Stare into this crystal and become one of my servants. We could use a mage. With the dimensions locked and father still recovering his body, it's been difficult to move resources around."

  "I feel for you," I said with false sympathy. "How ever did you
manage to open portals? I mean on purpose? Your, um father's circle would seem to preclude that?"

  "It was difficult. Father spent a lot of effort to lock down the dimensions. Fortunately, he did design the circles. Even though he lacks a body he was able to advise some of his lieutenants to create a circle that can briefly open one. For price. No way to overcome the other restrictions without his blood. Very unfortunate."

  She glanced at me with a shadow of a frown and tapped the crystal, making it shine with a baleful luminance. My head immediately began to ache. I didn't dare put up a psionic shield. If she realized I was a psychic she would shift tactics. I liked her present tactics. I attempted to look like my eyes were glazing.

  "We haven't been able to find the portal to the demon realm. Why did you hide your realm so well? If it hadn't been for a fluke you would have had all the advantages."

  "We didn't hide," she spat in irritation. Demon pride for the win! Second only to dragon pride. "The dimension with the highest concentration of energy is naturally our prime realm. Unfortunately, this means that the portal had to be where those cursed Atlantean imbeciles sank their continent."

  She glared at me and tapped the crystal again. Its radiance increased a bit. "You'll be more useful than I thought. Only the most powerful mages could resist this long."

  "That story is real?" I asked in surprise. "That is going to make things incredibly inconvenient."

  "Yes. It is. We had our forces spread out ready to pour through the other portals, however, the bulk of them are still at home."

  "Underwater," I muttered. "Or probably that particular Atlantis analog has been warded. Demons won't drown but you're not aquatic. Or rather most aren't."

  "You're playing for time," she said sadly. "You're not only resistant, your immune. Or close to it."

  "Close to it," I responded, tensing up.

  "I so wanted a mage slave," she whispered to herself. "Starman. Kill him. We'll have to settle for prying what secrets we can from his bones."

  At her words, Starman's hands blurred. Fortuitously, I had been waiting for this. Rakshasa are extremely talented psionics, so I hadn't used my abilities at all. Once she committed, I threw away any pretense of harmlessness and jabbed into Starman's brain as hard as I could. Naturally it did no damage, however, my aim was good and he slowed just enough that I could barely see and respond. It likely helped that he was as brainless as a zombie in his hypnotized state.

  This didn't change the fact that Starman was grossly overpowered. Despite not being supernatural a hit from him would likely have consequences direr than a hit from Faramon. I may lose much more than a tooth.

  I brought up my hand as fast as I could. In it, I held an anchor shard. As my hands got in front of Starman's I used coordination to leave the shard hanging in space in front of his fists.

  These shards were anchored in space. If they were not touching me or my blood then in some ways, they were the center of the universe and the rest of the dimension revolved around them. Mostly conceptually, since there was no real rotation involved.

  As his hands came in contact, the explosive force of his fists meeting the shards created a shock wave that blew out the door and the glass windows of the room. The dazed heroes were blown back out of their seats like ragdolls. I had to borrow the concept of my true mass in order not to be moved.

  "Ingenious," Dash said with a menacing grin. "Futile, but brilliant. How long can you keep that up?"

  Not long. Using two shards I frantically moved them around like I was playing a frantic game of Go. I was only using two pieces and I couldn't afford to miss a counter.

  The entire reason I was doing this was in the hope that I could slow Starman enough to do something else. I failed. As the room shook and blood oozed from the fallen heroes' ears and nose from the explosive impacts, I finally accepted this. As of now, I could barely hold Starman off. If Dash had actually moved to act, physically, magically or psychically I would lose.

  "Fine. You win for now. I'll be back," I spat out bitterly.

  "You're not going anywhere mage," she said gleefully. "While you were playing me, I was playing you. I have already activated wards to prevent..."

  I ignored her and reached out to the nearby anchor stone I had placed on a decrepit roof. An instant later I was pulled through time and space, forced into a special blender and poured through a dimensional hole the size of a pinhead.

  Chapter 22

  I sat up on the roof, staring into the night sky for more than an hour. First of all, I had just endured an excruciating experience. As often as I did it you would think I would get used to it. I hadn't.

  I also had to come to grips over how I had just been toyed with. It wasn't a good feeling. Fortunately, it wasn't a common feeling. Other than that ancient dragon that bound and exiled me it hadn't really happened very often. It was odd to think that if it hadn't been for the first event, I wouldn't have been able to walk away from the second.

  Dash was very obviously a greater demon. While I wouldn't trust anything she said completely, if she truly was Vatapi's daughter then she likely was more powerful than Baron Samedi was. If I had been able to convert the local super team onto my side things would have been so very easy. They obviously had government ties and getting this world into the alliance would have been a huge step forward.

  As it was, I presently was in 'hiding' from the city's team. This wasn't horrible. A setback, yes. However, by some coincidence, I had taken a leading role within the packs. Collectively they were far stronger than the heroes. On the other hand, they couldn't really act that way without the entire world rising up against them. Very inconvenient.

  Also inconvenient was how scattered the packs were. It allowed me to play a role but likewise, it limited their coordination. Mei had likened it to herding cats. Despite the sheer numbers, there was no way I could get them to act together. At least not at the same time.

  Finally mostly recovered, I stood up and hopped down the fire escape to my room. Despite lost opportunities, I still had my initial plan. I simply had to figure out a feasible method of taking control of the heroes away from the demon forces. One more thing to add to my list.

  To ease my restlessness, I studied the Slow spell for a few hours before I went to sleep. Previously it was part of my contingency plan in case I needed to deal with Starman. Since circumstances had led to the obnoxious alien being a dupe for the forces of darkness it was probably going to be the lynchpin of any plan I had in the future.

  I had browsed the temporal spells at the Academy dorm. Not systematically but more in reference to the stasis ward I was researching. They both had an excellent glossary that had helped the concepts come together. Now I had allocated time to its sole study.

  A few hours of study are inconsequential for a spell of such complexity. I did get an idea of how it played with concepts and energies of the Firmament but I estimated it would take a few days to get good enough to cast it. Even so, I didn't have to absolutely master in the short term. The Imbue spell would allow me to cast it from an item even if I wasn't particularly good at it. It was a pretty common tactic in magic battles.

  True arch mages could 'hang' a spell. Sort of half cast in the ether and unleash it on a command word. This had a few drawbacks as well. The first is that these half cast spells would dissipate rapidly. Some in hours, others in days. Again, it depended on a mage's skill.

  The other drawback was that sensitive people, mages and psychics, could sense the untriggered spells. It could be a vague sense of foreboding or even a certainty of what spell and purpose were impending. The truly powerful or skilled could even interfere with the potential uncast spell. At that point, it might be a wrestling match over who got control of it. Frankly storing a spell in a magic item and triggering it was the simplest method unless you wanted to show off how fantastic you were.

  I fell asleep with images and theories of magic dancing it my head. It led to good dreams. None of them prophetic and nothing worth ment
ioning. I liked that.

  I woke up bright and early, around noon. I was a bit lethargic, lacking clear direction but Jim brought food. Italian this time. Various noodle and sauce dishes. It was pretty decent and it got me motivated to move.

  "I may have a lead on the vampires," he said as he ate his own food. He had learned from last time and kept his own food separate. "There a beggar in the park. Only shows up at night..."

  "Beggar?" I asked in disbelief. The vampires in my world prided themselves on appearance. It was old world grace or something. Velvet suits, dandy top hats, gloves. Nothing was over the top. The undead ladies would likely wear an opera gown to go grocery shopping. If they ate. Perhaps they'd shop the shoppers...

  "You can tell me about the... undead beggar in a moment," I interrupted. "Right now I need to find out about the hero group."

  "Which one? There's dozens in the city."

  "Dozens?" If there were that many groups then the number of empowered people must be ridiculous. On the other hand, I hadn't really heard much about them so their power level may be very low.

  "It's almost a joke," Jim continued. "There's a group of psychics that can pelt you with stones. But only if they combine their power."

  "So... they hold hands to attack you?"

  "You know it" he replied with a sneer. "And there's another group that..."

  "Never mind that," I interrupted again. "The main group. The one that had Diego and Starman."

  "And the Patriot," Jim reminded me with a smile.

  "Right. That one," I paused a moment. "By the way, what is Patriot's power?"

  "Money."

  "He's the financial backer? And he goes into combat?"

  "He's some rich genius," Jim said with a shrug. "He designed their flying car, some armor, and some weapons. He has a bunch of gadgets. He owns almost half of the big tech companies. His team's the Confederation of Justice. Wait. I think he just bought the rights to the Defenders name. Yeah, that one." I looked at him blankly. Right, Patriot had said something like that too. "There was a huge legal battle but he threw money at it and now that's their name."