Ancient Magic

by Blink, Bob

  “I think there is no hope unless the Rift is dealt with rapidly,” Daim replied. He didn’t tell the other what he truly believed lay ahead.

  “I will arrange the meeting you wish for the first thing tomorrow,” Naeem said. “You can be there then?”

  “The three of us will attend. I expect many questions and don’t want to give them any reason to delay. We will need the support of others to make this happen. If we could do it alone, we would have already done so.”

  “Why are you so exasperated?” Naeem asked as he and Daim walked from the Council chambers together the next day. “You have gotten what you came for. The Council has agreed to allow you to attempt to destroy the Rift. They have given you the support you requested.”

  “Not exactly as I requested. The number of wizards they are allocating for the effort will make the task difficult.”

  “They are concerned for those who will be involved. You admitted that some, perhaps all of those who support you, could be killed. They don’t wish to risk more lives than necessary.”

  “They will all die regardless if this doesn’t work. Everyone on the Council, you and I included, will not survive much longer unless we are successful. It is obvious they don’t believe me. They are simply afraid of doing nothing. This way, if I fail, the blame can be shifted to me. If I am successful, then they can step up and take credit for tasking me to eliminate the problem. They hope to win either way, but don’t understand what they are dealing with.”

  “When will you make your attempt?” Naeem asked. He wasn’t as sure that things were as bleak as Daim predicted.

  “Soon enough. Too much time has been wasted already. I am going to pay a visit to several wizards I know who reside at the castle. Those who serve the King more closely are less inclined to feel themselves beholding to the dictates of the Council. I might be able to gain further support there. Hobar and Juda have friends spread around the country as well. We will need the support of all we can get.”

  Chapter 60

  Daim stared at the black maw of the Rift in the distance as he fumed. There were twenty-two of them to attempt the near impossible. Besides himself and his two helpers, the Council had authorized a mere fifteen qualified wizards for the task. Few would go against the ruling of the Council, so the fact they had been able to convince four others to risk their standing and their necks was a significant accomplishment. But Daim doubted it would be enough. The Rift wouldn’t be defeated so easily. Whatever the accursed thing was, it was going to take an unheard of effort to dislodge it.

  The heat and discomfort of the Ruins had no effect on Daim or the other wizards. Their magic pushed aside such minor considerations. Normal humans would find it all but impossible to venture this far into the desolate land, and few wizards found reason to come here as well. The Ruins were a lesson of what could happen when magic was improperly used. Long ago, at least three thousand years earlier if the records were to be believed, a war had been fought between opposing factions of wizards for the control of this area, then the center of a widespread civilization. The results of magic being unleashed without concern resulted in the Ruins. The scope and abilities of those ancient wizards exceeded the powers of those alive today by a wide margin. Even Daim could barely imagine the forces that had been unleashed here.

  Other than the towers, there was normally nothing much of interest even for wizards. In the distant past they had explored the area carefully in a failed attempt to eradicate the hated Hoplani. That task had failed and nothing else worth their time had been found. The fact the Rift had been discovered was a minor miracle, but a fortunate one. The dangerous flowers had been the clue that had led the first searchers to this place. They were also fortunate that the thing hadn’t taken root within the human occupied lands. The damage would have happened so quickly under such a scenario they probably wouldn’t have had time to react.

  When first discovered the Rift had been roughly half its current size. Over the past two years it had expanded rapidly and showed no signs of reversing the trend so that it was almost two thousand paces in width, and perhaps a tenth of that in elevation. The lower edge was firmly attached to the hard rocky substrate under the reddish sands at a number of points along its interface. What held the top up he had no idea.

  From the front the opening appeared as a flattened oval. Blacker than night inside, the only feature that could be observed was the random flickering of faint purplish lights inside. Various energies had been detected coming from within, but no one knew for certain the purpose of the radiation. It was different than any magic they knew, or anything else they had ever encountered in this world which made Daim think this came from somewhere far different. One thing they did know. The energies could be dangerous, even to a wizard.

  From the backside, the volume of space occupied by the Rift was unenlightening. A relatively smooth gray surface that extended back from the mouth of the forward facing fissure some one to two hundred paces sloping smoothly into the surface of the Ruins where it disappeared. Probing with their magic suggested it extended some distance beneath the surface. The Rift was a tear in reality. A place where simple magic didn’t work as it should. A dangerous tear that had already cost a number of lives directly, not to mention the ever-growing side effects of the life that was escaping into this world.

  The first wizards to encounter the Rift had attempted to blast it with their magical energies. On the backside, the odd matter-energy material had simply absorbed whatever energy they had flung at it. Attempting to attack the maw itself had triggered a retaliation in the form of a crackling burst of purple lightning back at the attacker. Those struck by the multi-fingered blast from the Rift appeared to dispel into a gas and vanish. None who had been struck had ever survived.

  That had been one of the reasons the Council had placed the site off limits. There appeared to be nothing that could be done about the Rift, and so long as it was far out into the Ruins, they decided it wasn’t a matter worthy of their concern. Typical political stupidity.

  Daim couldn’t completely dispel the feeling this was a gigantic creature clawing its way out of the depths of the desert wasteland. The opening looked like a huge obscene maw, and clearly it was gripping the land as it worked its way upward and outward from the initial manifestation. He wondered whether the pace would accelerate if left alone. It didn’t matter. It could remain as it was at the moment and before long mankind and all normal life would disappear.

  For many months Daim and Juda had carefully probed the Rift. Probing appeared to be safe enough, if the probes were handled with proper care. It was the attack magics that triggered reprisals. Together they had investigated the anomaly and tried to discover a weakness they could utilize. It had already been shown that the strongest magic they had was futile when applied directly. Juda had come to the conclusion that the Rift was anchored to the bedrock of the desert. As it grew it established new contact points before spreading. The hope was to weaken all of the current support points, then simultaneously blast the underlying rock to powder. It was hoped the Rift would lose its hold and slip back to wherever it had come from.

  Each of the wizards who had been approached for this task was strong in their ability to manipulate matter, especially stone. Their first effort would be to subtly attack the bedrock, weakening it and making it susceptible to the later energies that would be pumped into place then triggered. All of the attach points would have to be destroyed at the same time or the attempt would likely fail. Their numbers were small to accomplish such a feat. Even if they were successful, there were no guarantees. It was only a theory that this would work, but they had nothing else and Daim was positive if they failed today there was no hope whatsoever.

  “Let’s begin,” Daim said softly. There was no need to point out specifics. They had discussed the plan at length back at the Citadel. The wizards spread out along the length, working in pairs as they had been assigned.

  The action of disrupting the rock structure w
as subtle, and nothing showed outwardly as the wizards extended their will into the floor of the Ruins. They all worked at varying distances from the Rift itself, depending on their strength and personal abilities. For more than a glass the exercise continued. Juda moved between positions and monitored the progress being made. She had a fine touch that couldn’t be duplicated by any of the others.

  “I think we’re ready,” she said to Daim sometime later. “The rock has been altered sufficiently. The Rift appears to be slowly reacting. I sense it is aware of the change and is starting to extend its reach deeper. We must move ahead or we might lose the advantage we have gained. The deeper it reaches, the more difficult our task becomes.”

  Daim sent the mental command to their team, and suddenly bright blue cylinders of magical energies burst forth. The energy was not directed at the Rift itself, but was impregnating the weakened structure where the Rift grasped the stone under the surface. Once enough energy was placed at the desired site, intense fire bolts would be used to trigger the explosions. Until those explosions, it was hoped that they would be safe from any response by the Rift.

  Juda held her breath for the first seconds, afraid that the Rift might respond. They needed at least a tenth of a glass undisturbed before enough energy would be in place. This was a massive artifact and the energies required were immense, even by magical standards. If the beams being sent forth by the wizards were interrupted for any reason, the energies would quickly dissipate and they would have to start over. That was one reason they had paired the wizards at each location so the backup could proceed if something happened to the lead wizard at each location. Both were sending the magical power into the core simultaneously.

  For a while all proceeded smoothly. Then suddenly a ripping sound was heard, and a jagged forked bolt of energy burst forth from deep within the maw of the Rift. The squirming purple band of energy struck one of the closer wizards in several places, wiping him from existence and interrupting his transfer of energy. The wizard with him pulled back quickly, ducking the attack and continuing to send his own blue colored cylinder of energy deep into the ground, hoping to retain what his vanquished partner had accomplished.

  “Distraction attack!” Daim commanded.

  Three wizards spread along the length of the Rift began what were expected to be suicidal runs at the Rift. Bolts of Brightfire as well as reddish blast of normal fire were sent at the Rift in an attempt to distract it from attacking those trying to prepare for the major attack. The Rift wasted little time. One of the attackers was wiped from existence almost immediately, causing the others to jump away and attack from extreme range. In the respite, the Rift wiped out two more of the wizards who were fearfully trying to complete their task.

  “We may have to trigger the explosions now,” Daim suggested to Juda. “If we lose any more of the team we won’t have energy reserves at every location.”

  Juda shook her head violently. “There isn’t enough energy in place to be certain. We only will get once chance. If the Rift survives this attack it will imbed itself too deep for us to have a chance of dislodging it later.”

  Daim nodded his understanding, but couldn’t help but notice they were single string now in multiple locations. Only Hobar remained of the wizards trying to distract the Rift. Daim jumped from his safe location and sent his own blast of Brightfire into the opening. He was certain the energy did nothing more than annoy the Rift somehow, but that was probably the wrong term. He didn’t know if the thing was alive and had conscious awareness or not. He only hoped the distraction would help buy them the time they needed.

  As he sent another blast into the thing, he noted a more powerful than normal purple finger shoot forward, taking out both members of a team. That anchor point wouldn’t be affected by their triggering the explosion. The magical energies would already be drifting away. It didn’t take very long once the controlling wizard released the beam. That meant at least one grasping point would remain. He wondered what the chances of success would be given that not all of the points would be affected.

  Then another blast, and another team was gone. They were losing. Curse the Council for not providing the forces he’d requested. They were too few to do this properly. He jumped back to where Juda was monitoring their progress.

  “We have to attempt it now. We are losing ground.”

  Juda’s face was drawn. He knew she understood, but also could sense she was certain it wouldn’t work. Slowly she nodded. He could see defeat in her eyes.

  She was about to pass the command so the wizards could pull back when Naeem appeared behind them. With him were more than a hundred wizards.

  “I brought help,” he said simply.

  Daim couldn’t believe it. Naeem had defied the other members of the Council. Juda was already instructing the new arrivals what to do, and quickly they flew into action. The missing teams were replaced with twice the number as before in an attempt to make up for the losses that resulted from the wizards who had been killed. Each of the remaining teams were augmented by additional wizards who starting pumping energy into the weakened rock. More than a dozen of them began firing harassing blasts and then transitioning to new locations.

  The wizards had learned to keep on the move. Energy blasts of all colors crackled and snaked back and forth. Strange huge yellow colored beasts with wings appeared at the lip of the maw. They appeared ill formed and not yet ready to transition from the security of the Rift, but the one or two that made it outside quickly killed any nearby wizards.

  “We’re there!” Juda yelled suddenly. She gave the mental command for everyone to pull back and almost immediately triggered the energies that had been stored in the ground.

  The ground buckled and rumbled as if a huge earthquake had been triggered. Clouds of dust shot high into the air and a huge rip appeared in the floor of the Ruins. Deep within the chasm a multicolored light show was taking place as the magical energies were released and the Rift tried to react to the loss of its anchor to this world. Several of the wizards who had been slow to withdraw were killed by the blasts. Already Daim could see that the Rift was shrinking, sliding backward as if sinking into the ground. He dearly hoped it was sliding back to where it had come from and not slipping deep into the earth where they would be unable to reach it.

  The display continued for long moments and more than a half glass was required before all sign of the Rift was lost.

  Juda monitored every step. She sent several of the surviving wizards to points along what had been the forward edge of the rift after giving them instructions what to look for. She probed deep into the earth with her magic looking for any sign of the thing.

  “I can’t sense it,” she told Daim.

  His own probes were yielding the same result. Either it was too deep for them, or they had won.

  Later, the other wizards reported similar results.

  “We won!” several exclaimed. “We beat it!”

  Daim knew it wasn’t that simple, but didn’t say anything. What would it gain by telling them the truth. They deserved this moment of happiness. There wouldn’t be many more if Frad was right, and Daim was certain the Seer was.

  “How many did we lose,” Juda asked.

  “Almost half,” Hobar who standing next to her informed her. “We don’t have a full count as yet.”

  “Where’s Naeem?” Daim asked. He hadn’t seen his former apprentice since he’d arrived. He had been far too busy.

  Hobar hung his head. “He was one of the first to be lost,” he said quietly.

  Chapter 61

  The once great nation of Wastril was virtually nonexistent half a year after the Rift had been eliminated. It had once stretched from the Great Sea on the west to the desert sands of the Ruins on the east, and from the snowy mountains to the north all the way to the steaming jungles in the far south. Villages and towns once linked together in a common cause with commerce and exchange of ideas, now stood virtually alone and isolated. In every case the popula
tions had dropped precariously, and for most locales the end wasn’t yet in sight. Overall, almost fifty percent of the population had already died. Men were afraid of their neighbors, and they huddled in their homes in fear, going out only when need drove them to do so. The wizard population had faired even worse. While the infection from the flowers affected each group differently, it was especially hard on those with magical abilities. None of those who became infected survived, and already less than fifteen percent of the wizards who had been alive six months earlier remained so today. The healers had been first to go, but it hadn’t taken long for the plague to move on to the rest. The Rift was the cause of the downfall. While the Rift was gone, and if the Great Seer Frad were to be believed, it would never return, but the remnants of its presence were still being felt.

  “Master Daim,” said someone interrupting Daim’s thoughts as he walked slowly across the grounds of the Citadel. Located in the rich valley between heavily forested mountains, it had always been a place of beauty, and Daim had loved walking the grounds. He hadn’t been here for some time. He knew there were many who didn’t welcome him, and he had been busy with his own projects elsewhere. He turned his head toward the sound of the voice, which quivered somewhat with age. Walking toward him with a toothy grin was Jhoni. It always struck Daim as improper for Jhoni to refer to him as Master. Jhoni was the oldest living wizard, and one of considerable talent at that. In the past few years Daim had become aware the elder wizard’s powers were failing, and he no longer tackled the major efforts that he’d been known for all his life. Somehow, against all odds, the elder wizard had survived the ravages of the plague whereas most of his younger fellows had not.

  “Jhoni,” Daim replied, shedding the stern countenance that had become standard for him of late and replacing it with a welcoming smile. It was a true pleasure to see the other.