The Dao of Magic: Book III

by Andries Louws

  “Ferah came and took her away. I dunno.” The dull-faced and scaled beastkin shrugs its shoulders and continues drawing circles in the dirt. The crappy tents that litter this part of the moon only serve to irritate the mage.

  “Do you have a package for me, then?” Fredon asks impatiently.

  “What?”

  “A package for Fredon…”

  “Yeh, we have that one.” The beastkin smiles at him vacantly but continues drawing circles.

  “So, go get it already!” the mage says, nearly shouting.

  “Okay, okay…”

  Keeping his temper in check, Fredon walks away from the idiots. He now slightly understands why the aged beastkin seemed in such a foul mood all the time. Schooling his face into niceness and happiness - like all the other idiots happily trouncing around this abominable place - he walks to the single city on the Moon. It doesn’t have a name, but since it’s the only place with actual buildings on the oversized rock, nobody deemed it a necessity to give it one.

  Fredon stops his feelings from showing on his face, or in his aura, as he walks between the white buildings. All the wasted potential and thrown away emotional training is truly painful to the mage. He had thought about changing and trying to find a place in this new way of doing things but decided not to. This had taken him days of consideration while wandering the much-changed exterior of the Mana Dungeon.

  Now things are coming together, though. Plans had formed slowly at first, small possibilities appearing here and there, but his schemes really started taking off a few weeks ago, around the same time the qi levels in Tree started rising again. The rumours told of the mana near the Mana Dungeon being funnelled into Tree, but the mage doubted that.

  Fredon considers himself relatively lucky, all things considered. His large amount of social contacts and large body of knowledge gathered over the years have allowed him to convince a sizable number of mages to his way of thinking. Even the traitors who are drinking at the teat of that Teach figure and that fake dragon heard him out.

  Fredon walks to a normal building at the edge of the moon town and knocks on the wall in a specific pattern. A hidden door slides open, and he slips inside. A small collection of beastkin, savages, and normal people greet him. They all nod in acknowledgement. Soon they will bow, but the small signs of respect will do for now.

  Only now allowing his thoughts to slip into his true opinions again, his happily smiling face transforms from its previous carefree rictus. “Welcome, brothers. I have it. Make sure to place them in the correct positions and act only when the signal comes. I will go and talk to the rest now.”

  More nods follow him as he places the packet on a table and walks out the door again. Mage Fredon plasters a smile on his face once more as he walks out, rubbing his hands.

  He is used to having to work long-term on plans that might not work, but he has a feeling this one might just work out great for him. The power vacuum at the top is beckoning the scheming mage, and no one else seems aware of the massive possibilities that are clear to him. He looks around at all the students, traitors, and slaves while smiling happily.

  Soon…

  chapter fifty

  Fulmination

  “Corl, sit down! Stop playing with knives, and give me that. That’s dangerous. Willa, you really need to keep an eye on him! Flor, stop brushing your hair and pay attention. Now, we went over the multiplication tables yesterday, and I hope you practised them because here’s a test.”

  Ares stands in front of a large black rectangle that contains white writing. A large group of kids is seated on chairs and behind desks covered in papers. A stack of printed sheets lifts from the teacher’s desk and spreads among the kids, one on each desk.

  “Stop using qi; that’s not allowed here! Turn over your papers!” Keeping an eye out for the expected antics by the class’s troublemakers, Ares starts strolling through the rows of benches until she stops at the single person that sticks out like a sore thumb.

  “Uhm, miss Menrah? Please do the test. Look, even Ferah is doing it. It’s not that hard…” Ferah is sitting next to her grandmother, the girl’s legs bouncing continuously as she writes down answers at high speed. The aged woman is sitting on her chair without moving, her arms crossed and refusing to acknowledge anyone and anything.

  “Please, miss, I receive points based on how well you are doing, and I only need a few more to get a large bonus. I really need to be able to buy those glass jars in order to store all the medicine we have been making. Please just take the test.” The redheaded girl is now practically begging the old beastkin, who just shoots her a withering glare before continuing to do nothing.

  “Re only said I have to keep her with me, to prevent her from doing bad stuff. She didn’t tell me that granma needed to join in with classes, though…” Ferah looks up from her paper briefly before continuing her writing.

  “But now she’s already registered and I can’t just remove you from my assigned class without a really good reason. The ‘old age’ option isn’t even available. I also can’t use the ‘heartcore’ option because that would label you as an idiot for the rest of your life.Please just do the teeeeeest!”

  Other kids now look at their whining teacher. Ares is begging the single oldest student assigned to her to cooperate. Her point gains have tanked since the old woman got dragged into her class by Ferah.

  “I will not cooperate. This system is absurd and will self-destruct soon enough. I would run away if I were you, ‘girl’.” That last word is laced with as much venom and disgust as Menrah could possibly muster, the look on her face as she glances at Ares is like she is looking at rotting shit.

  “No dessert for you tonight, granma! I get double pudding, nice. Stop being mean to miss Ares.” Ferah smiles while wiping away some drool as she continues writing. The few braincores in the class are already done with the assignment and are now peering at the developments happening between the old beastkin and the young light mage.

  Ares just slumps her shoulders and goes back to the blackboard, keeping a watch out for any tricks from the rest of the students. She is conducting her assigned teaching duties from the moon in one of the many newly built classrooms.

  There have been many discussions on what to do with the children that arrived inside Tree. The age at which people are considered an adult varies from race to race, the number being a bit higher with the civilisations that enjoy more advanced levels of technology or magic support, but a general consensus had been reached eventually. In this new ruling, it was decided that each and every child beneath the age of fifteen was to be put inside a classroom with fellow children of similar age and education. These classes would meet a few times each week to socialize and follow a set plan of lessons. Ares had signed up for teaching duty as she has always had a soft spot for children.

  She thought she had made great strides in assertiveness and self-confidence. The light mana element is manipulated the easiest by content and overconfident people. Ironically, this forced overconfidence prevented Ares from developing a true sense of self-worth and confidence, which she has been working on.

  All the progress she had been making crashed back down after Ferah dragged her grandmother along with her. She registered the old woman as a student, and the old bint’s stern refusal to join in is tanking her teaching scores. Ares holds back her tears as she thinks about the unfairness of it all.

  Re-Haan had assigned a rather lucrative mission to Ferah. The dragoness had visited the girl in class and asked her to take on the mission personally. Ares’s mind still hurts when she recalls how the conversation went.

  “Hey, Ferah. Listen, did your grandmother ever teach you anything?” was the line Re-Haan had asked the girl all of a sudden.

  Ferah had jumped a bit, but turning around she had started a rather happy spiel on the many skills handed down to her. This included gathering herbs, working cloth, spotting mana mutants, hiding from mana mutants, butchering and skinning mana mutants, and
more.

  “Great, that’s because Menrah is really good at those things and has been at it for a long time, right?” Receiving enthusiastic nods, Re-Haan had continued. “Now then, you are the one that has a lot of experience with cultivating and being inside Tree. So, what you now need to do is teach Menrah how things go around here. You are the expert in this, and she doesn’t know anything about it. So, be a good girl and be your grandmother’s teacher in this, okay?”

  It had taken Re-Haan some more twisted logic to convince Ferah to take responsibility of the old badger, but take responsibility she did. She took the old woman everywhere, even taking care to equip her with a qi-repulsion field whenever they went down to Tree. Ferah hadn’t gone on any outside missions after that, only dragging her stoic and stubborn, sole remaining family member along.

  Ares sighs deeply as she watches over her assigned class. More and more students put their pencils down as they finish the test. There had been heavy debates about whether or not requiring handwritten tests are needed. The scientific community then did some tests and found out that knowledge learned from Database or jade imprints vanish from memory rather quickly. Only when the knowledge is used daily for a week does it stick in the average brain.

  This series of tests has led to a rise in library popularity, the half-abandoned and dragon-remodelled white building near Tree suddenly filled to the brim. More tests with kids and teaching methods had formed a new baseline in education. Database is now used as a personal tutor that keeps track of skill levels, instead of the end all be all educator it was considered before.

  This educational revolution happened a few weeks ago and its fruits are showing already. The general education went from a long series of remembered facts to true understanding in a certain scope. Ares herself has started focussing on the structural strength of the body instead of healing. She has found a new passion for learning about muscular structure and the way bones are constantly changing. The way tendons flow into bundles of myofibrils is fascinating to the timid girl. The calcium cycle is even now in her idle thoughts.

  Keeping an eye on the class, the braincore girl takes up her book again, studying the diagrams depicting skin layers and the cell division that constantly replenishes the epidermis layer. The students who are done with the test see this as a signal to also take books from their desks and start reading.

  The cluster of suns above shines down through the large windows of the classroom. In order to promote good concentration amidst distraction, the educational building is placed smack dab in the middle of the moon’s city. The large windows provide an excellent view of the happenings outside, sound dampening formations engraved in the glass and walls keeping out the hustle and bustle. The peaceful atmosphere and sounds of scribbling pens and flipping pages continues as the last students finish up the sheet of sums.

  Then, streaks of red light bloom across the moon and Tree’s many acres of forest. Menrah stands up, a knife suddenly in her hands as she slides the blade across her own wrist. A crazed grin is on the old woman’s face as her blood glows and starts flowing upwards. “FINALLY! Yes, finally there shall be order. Even though I needed to cooperate with the mana fiends and savages both, THERE WILL BE ORDER. MWAHAHA!”

  “Granma, stop that! Hey, granma! No, Re-Haan will spank me again if you make a mess. Stop that!” Ferah is up from her chair as she smashes her small fists against her grandmother. Each strike is warded off by a red glowing shell that has formed around the maniacally laughing woman. Her blood has stopped falling to the ground and is now floating upwards in a large ball. Streaks of red light come in from outside, connecting the sphere to others in the distance via glowing crimson beams.

  All across the moon and Tree’s forests, red glowing orbs emerge. A formation many kilometres in size has sprung into being in but a few seconds, freezing everyone in place. An acrid metallic smell flows from the red lines while all movement grinds to a halt.

  Ominous chanting starts creeping through the air. Menrah pulls a blood red stone from a fold of her robe and puts it to her forehead. Tones and vocalizations that sound unlike anything a living being could produce come from her raspy throat, filling every ear with sounds that grind against everyone’s sanity.

  Then a malicious feeling stops every single being from breathing. The feeling that a wounded rabbit would have when confronted with a full-grown wolf strikes fear into everyone’s heart. The red formation that has formed between moon and Tree shimmers as something unnatural tries to claw its way through.

  Then another wave of stillness puts time to a halt. Whimpering animals, chanting fanatics and, scared children all stop breathing once again, their blood frozen in their veins and their breath stopped in their throats.

  “For fuck’s sake. I close up for a month and this happens? Okay then. You absolute, moronic retards obviously can’t handle this much freedom. I tried it the nice way, let’s just go down the despotic overlord path then. Fuuuuck!” Another voice spreads through moon, Tree, and void, a slightly bored grumble that contains a lot of disappointment and sounds extremely fed up.

  “Well, if I’m going down the evil path anyway, I might as well act the part.” Just when everyone sees the floating figure that hangs above Tree, its aura changes from absolute still neutrality to an overbearing will that must not be trifled with.

  “IT’S GOOD YOU FOUND THE GAPS, YOU FOOLISH MORTALS! I WONDERED WHEN SOMEONE WOULD BE STUPID ENOUGH TO GRASP THE BITS OF RITUALISTIC FORMATIONS AND BLOOD MAGIC I LEFT ACCESSIBLE. Wait, so this is entrapment? No, the predisposition must have been present. It’s not blackmail either. Is there a term for leaving a clear route to criminal activity open while having the ability to prevent other people from taking it?”

  Not a single sound is heard for several seconds as the entire dimension holds its breath.

  “Anyways, thanks for setting up the formation. Only a few tweaks are needed to transform it into slavery collars. Wait, you guys didn’t even set this up properly. You would just have formed a blood demon from the gathered blood. The soul part is wrong here and there, which would have left you all with an insane and quickly multiplying plague of cursed beings. Stupid ass, this is why only highly qualified beings should mess with souls, like me.”

  Ares frowns as she looks at the faraway figure. “What’s going on?” she manages to whisper. The kids around her shift slightly as they tear their gazes away from Tree. Ferah continues pounding on the red shell protecting Menrah, who is looking awfully pale beneath her fur.

  “Okay, that should do it.” His voice and silent cough sound across all things once more. “ALL SHALL KNEEL! BE HAPPY, FOR YOU WILL AID ME BY FEEDING ME YOUR QI. I SHALL SET YOU FREE AND ASCEND. I AM TEACH, AND I SHALL TEACH NO MORE, AS IS YOUR WISH. BECOME MY QI BATTERIES AND BE BOUND TO MY SOU-”

  “NO, YOU FIEND! I, RE-HAAN THE MIGHTY DRAGON SHALL STOP YOU THIS DAY.”

  “HAHA! WAIT, YOU’RE SERIOUS? LET ME LAUGH EVEN HARDER! HAHAHA, RIDICULOUS.”

  “How ridiculous is this then?” Re-Haan’s relatively silent voice contrasts with the pompously shouted bravado from before, shaking everyone from their stupor. What has been happening was just like watching a horrific accident. Terrible stuff was playing out in front of everyone’s eyes but no one was able to look away.

  A white flash with a purple tint later, and a massive dragon hangs between Tree and moon at the nexus point of the still-glowing red formations. She flaps her wings once, sending out waves of air that shake foundations.

  What happens next only takes microseconds. First, the portals housed on the opposite side of the moon wink out. The large and much-expanded gazebo transforms from a multitude of doorways to many places across the planet into a hollow structure with loads of loose power.

  The red formation blinks out of existence, its gathered power also snatched by the flap of Re-Haan’s wings. The spheres of blood start falling to the ground as the red power holding them up pops. The moment the front of air has reached everything inside the dimen
sion - except for the small suns high above - a massive, complicated, and intricate white tree appears. Translucent white branches flow from Re-Haan and get a golden glow for but a moment. Each branch touches a single person, including the still bleeding group of beings that instigated the entire thing.

  The power of the portals is then sucked up by a rather large branch and redistributed through the golden glowing tree. Small portals appear around each person, whisking them away until none remain.

  Ares blinks once before she drops the small bit of chalk she is holding. She is standing on a narrow gravel beach, salty wind whipping her red hair into her eyes. Rocky, grass-covered islands are surrounded by rough seas as she looks around. Turning on the spot, she sees a large pyramid peeking over the horizon, the sun illuminating a structure that suggests four sides, instead of the three that would indicate Peak City’s presence.

  A glow on the ground wakes her from her stupor. A small stone with intricate runes scribbled on it starts spinning rapidly as it rises. Only now, Ares sees the port city that begins not a hundred meters away from her current position.

  Numbly, she observes as the glowing stone shoots towards the harbour city where it hovers a hundred meters or so above the city’s centre. The intensifying glow and resulting dome that encompasses the entire town fail to wake her from her daze. Only when she feels a familiar presence far away does she react. Looking upwards, she senses the presence of Teach. She barely sees a streak of light that quickly grows brighter. Then it disappears.

  Blinking quickly, she starts walking towards the city in a wooden manner. The silent town has started becoming lively as beings notice the glowing stone and the shimmering shield surrounding the town. The feeling of power above her continues to spread from where the streak of light just appeared. Looking upwards, she sees birds swoop through the odd cloud of power.