Beyond?

by Andur

  Saana lifts a finger. “Not entirely. We got a hint which could help us. There is a group which is called the black magicians. It seems like they are a bunch of terrorists and hunted by the authorities. Maybe we can find some answers to our riddle if we seek them out.”

  42. ~Misgivings.~

  “Those who control their rage are wise.

  Those who use their rage have power.”

  -The Great Shaman.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Stella

  “Why are you walking backwards through the laboratory?” I fiddle with my fingers while I try to start the important conversation. It has been two weeks since I postponed my confession to Azir.

  But somehow it never worked out! It's eating me up from the inside. He always had a reason to run off from one moment to the next, or he dropped a creepy comment, which made me lose my confidence.

  Then I had to deal with the Dwemer, plus my sister pays me frequent visits too. Everything is crushing me at the same time! I underestimated her plans. At first I thought that she wants to take the fame for this assignment, but then she started pushing all the work onto me!

  “I am thinking.” He is supporting his chin with one hand, while having his other hand in his armpit. It looks really strange and it's the first time I see him doing that.

  “Obviously. Does it help to run backwards, while striking a strange pose?” I have to change the topic smoothly to the baby, somehow. Going by all the comments he dropped during the last week, a baby would hit him really hard.

  “A little. It's bugging me that I forgot an important formula for building my reactor.” He gestures at a fist-sized, glowing orb, which is encircled by several silver rings. All of them are covered in runes and spinning at different angles.

  He persuaded me to transmute a series of heavy elements for him, which he caught inside the rings. My clan's teachers taught me that transmuting these elements is very dangerous for your own health and that you should never attempt to create them.

  But Azir explained the danger behind these minerals properly and contained the radiation with the spinning rings. This project has been going on for a long time. I transmute just half a gram of the heavy elements at a time. Azir can't handle more of the stuff safely with his spells. Neither of us is eager to be exposed to a large amount of radiation.

  Then he collects the created raw materials in that glowing ball of his. From what I understood he wants to create an energy reactor to light the town... or something like that. The current street lights are going to be a relic of the past.

  I mock him jokingly. “I can't believe that you forgot something important like a formula. Aren't you the great archmage from another world?”

  Azir places his hands in a praying position. “I may remember that my previous self lived eight hundred years on his world, but my memories aren't perfect. Do you remember what you did exactly ten years ago? Do you remember what you had for breakfast twelve days ago?”

  I tilt my head. “No?”

  “The same way I don't remember all my life. Of course I remember some important events, but I don't have the perfect memory of a Siorda. I tend to forget unimportant stuff.” He returns to his strange thinking position. “Walking backwards helps me to remember, it gives me another perspective on the world.”

  I frown. “So the knowledge on how to build this reactor is unimportant? Why did we go through all the effort of collecting this dangerous stuff in our house?” I point at the glowing sphere.

  He sighs. “It's not like my profession was to build miniaturized nuclear reactors. I am allowed to forget some things at least. Building nuclear reactors isn't exactly essential for your survival when you are caught alone in a world of ice. I started gathering the necessary fuel just in case. It took us months to collect enough and I feel like an idiot for forgetting it. Now I have to reinvent the whole thing, but the old books from the empire may help me to remember.”

  Nodding my head, I attempt to tell him about the baby. “Actually there is something else-” But just at this moment a voice erupts from my golden card.

  “Stella? Azir? Are you there? I might need some help here.”

  I curse silently and pull the card from my pocket. “Yes, this is Stella. What's the problem and who is speaking?”

  “Ah! Karsen here! I am taking military lessons with Eliot and he is having a fight with the other members of the class.” The answer comes from the card.

  “What?” I groan. Why is this happening now!? “Why? Can't you stop them?”

  The answering voice sounds a little subdued. “I am not sure if it's so smart if I jump in between them. They announced it to be a duel-”

  Azir smacks his forehead. “Where are you, I'll teleport there. It wouldn't be good if someone is hurt.”

  Karsen answers obediently. “We are at the magical training grounds.”

  Azir grabs my hand and closes his eyes. He concentrates for several seconds, while I keep as silent as possible. He mentioned to me several times that a blind teleport isn't easy for him. Taking someone else on the trip isn't a game.

  For a moment I think about stopping him, but taking care of the situation is urgent. If something bad happens it could affect our whole country. Our problem has to wait.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Azir

  Whew! Karsen's call saved me. Stella was about to confess, I am sure. My spell finally activates and both of us are teleported to the training field. I open my eyes and check our surroundings. We arrived safely on the big open field, which is used by several courses to train magic.

  The field is enclosed by the buildings of various faculties.

  The field itself is riddled with craters, bushes and a few very lucky trees. It looks like someone fought a war, which comes close to the truth.

  In the middle of the field are several students in a heated discussion with each other. I recognize one of them as Karsen, he is arguing with Nikita Truls about something. There is also Eliot, who is facing a girl who is taller than him. I count nine others who are watching the conversation with interest.

  We walk towards them and Karsen notices us. “They got into an argument about shamanistic magic and rune based magic. Eliot suggested to spar it out in order to prove his point.”

  “I don't get the problem. Eliot is an idiot. If he wants to prove his point with a fight, then let him try.” Nikita shrugs her shoulders.

  “The duel has already started?” Stella asks with an agitated voice.

  Karsen nods with a bitter expression. “Yes, I am sorry for failing my duty. I should have stopped this before the situation turned into a duel.”

  I realize that Eliot and the female student are already taking fighting stances. Interrupting a duel is looked down upon. There isn't much we can do, except for jumping in as soon as someone is disabled somehow. I could argue that continuing the duel any further is pointless.

  The female student ignites an aura of fire around her and I groan. She is an Anja. If Eliot doesn't have a way to deal with fire, then I'll have to carry a charred corpse to the healing institute.

  But Eliot rolls up his sleeves and reveals two big tattoos on his forearms. They are very complex waves and circles, but I can't identify any runes or magical circles. He strikes a strange pose and places his fist on his right tattoo. “I call upon the Dragon. I call upon Power. The ritual is finished!”

  I can only guess, but I suppose that he prepared the ritual beforehand and all he had to do was to finish it.

  He blurs, attacking the girl in front of him with a kick. The Anja counters with a fireball, stopping him in his tracks and forcing him to retreat a few steps back.

  She summons a raging inferno of flames all around her. I nod in appreciation. Setting the whole area aflame is her best chance against a close combat fighter.

  But Eliot isn't impressed, he jumps over the flames and is greeted by a fireball. His jump rendered him unable to dodge and he takes the full force
of the fireball, but like before he seems to be unaffected by the spell and is just blown backwards instead.

  So far, so good. It seems like the both of them are able to have an almost equal match, but that doesn't guarantee that this fight will go on like this forever.

  I watch Eliot trying to break through the Anja's defence and start gathering the mana from the surroundings. He is avoiding long contact with the flames, so his protection isn't perfect. His inability to approach through the wall of flames forces him to jump over it, which in return offers the Anja an opening to blast him away with a fire spell.

  This match turned stupid right at the start. They are both locked in a stalemate. If neither of them does something stupid or risky, the fight will go on for quite a while. After watching them for over two minutes without a change to the situation I decide that it's enough.

  So I walk in between the two. Watching the fight for so long gave me enough time to gather a large amount of mana, which can be seen enclosing me. “I think the two of you had your fun. This isn't proving anything at this point.”

  Eliot's attention turns towards me. “Ah, is that the famous battle aura of the Zait? I am sorry, I just wanted to demonstrate to that girl that our rituals can be fast enough to be used in combat.”

  The girl steps back from me, knowing my reputation all too well. “Yes. I think we can declare this duel as finished. I have proven my clan's strength.” She retreats from me with hasty steps. I sigh, luckily she doesn't seem to be eager to fight. Probably Eliot insulted her honour and she was forced to show off her powers.

  Eliot snorts. “What strength? You didn't even scratch me.”

  I turn to Eliot and smile. “You didn't scratch her either. I am sure that both of you have a few more tricks up your sleeves, we should stop before someone gets hurt.” I say that without much hope. During the time I spent with Eliot, I got to know him well enough. He isn't the type to stop when he should.

  Eliot points his finger at me. “There is no problem, but I am not satisfied with stopping here. The point was to show the difference in rune magic and shamanistic magic. I got to see the ability of one of your clans. That gathered mana around you is your clan's ability? I want to test myself against you.”

  I shake my head. “It would be unfair. I had several minutes to gather mana from the surroundings. By now I don't think that measuring me against you has any point.”

  He shrugs his shoulders. “Even so, please enlighten me.”

  My eyes wander to Nikita, who signals herself to be unconcerned by spreading both hands. “I already said that he is an idiot. Give him a good beating.”

  Stella shrugs her shoulders beside her and purses her lips.

  I sigh and nod towards Eliot. He rushes forward and attempts a straight kick at my belly. Forcing all the gathered mana into my body, I use it to enhance my physical abilities.

  Eliot's expression turns into surprise as I sidestep his kick and place my elbow in the path of his face. The result is as expected. His body enhancement spell isn't on the same level as my clan's ability. I had enough time to suck the entire area dry of mana while he fought with the Anja.

  His head snaps backwards upon contact with my elbow. It's like he ran into a stone wall and he drops to the ground, knocked out.

  I grab him at his collar and raise him towards Nikita. “I think this belongs to you?”

  She smiles at me. “It would be very nice of you if you take the trash away. I think he overdid it today.” Then she turns and walks away.

  Stella tilts her head. “I think it would be best if you carry him to the infirmary. His nose looks broken.”

  I drop Eliot to the ground. “Me?”

  My girl pulls at her lower lip. “You ran here at full speed, you interrupted their duel, you hit him unconscious, your responsibility.” She walks away without sparing me a second glance.

  I grumble. “Technically I didn't hit him. I just placed my elbow in the path of his face.”

  43. ~Rage.~

  “If using your emotions correctly gains you power, what do you get by abandoning them?”

  -The Great Shaman.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Stella

  Being a guide for the Dwemer is troublesome. Eliot is causing quite a lot of trouble recently, it almost feels like they are up to something. At least he became a little more docile since Azir completely overpowered and knocked him out. I admit that the situation was in Azir's favour, but Eliot doesn't want to admit that.

  Recently I am in really bad shape and to top everything off my sister Sola invited me to a meeting. She left me alone for quite a while. Unfortunately our work requires us to talk to each other.

  Right now I am waiting for her on university grounds in a restaurant. The street behind the window is full of people, but the restaurant I am sitting in is almost empty. She said that she has important information about our guests and gave me this location as a meeting place.

  “Hi, sister!”

  A voice from behind alarms me and I turn around while sipping on my orange juice. It's my sister in a plain dress. Is she trying to play a secret agent? It's unusual for her to restrain herself like that. Normally she dresses like a queen, so that everyone is able to recognize her status at a single glance.

  I sit a little straighter and smile. “Good morning. What's the reason for this meeting?”

  Sola purses her lips and takes a seat. “Don't be so uptight. Even if we don't like each other, if it concerns the country we should keep our problems to ourselves.” She sits down in front of me.

  I grumble. “Even so, I don't understand why you are inviting me like this. And what's up with this outfit? Are you trying to hide from someone?”

  Her expression turns troubled. “Our guests made contact with some individuals whom we believe to be part of the black magician's organization. We want to observe the situation further to see if we can find more people who are related to them.”

  “But...” My sister's revelation hits me like a sledgehammer. “I can't believe it. They are responsible for all of this? Why would they expose themselves like that?” This makes no sense! I didn't think of them as bad people, I even became friends with Adala. At least I thought of us as friends. Of course I know that they are mainly concerned for their own country, but I can't believe that they are related to the black magicians! Am I really that bad at judging people?

  Sola raises one finger. “I didn't say that they are working together, but they are spies from a foreign country. It's logical that they are trying to get connections within our own country. If they are able to gain the trust of the black magicians, they might be able to gain information, which we are holding back from them.”

  I form fists with my hands and try to control my feelings. “It seems logical, but I still don't like the idea. So we found another group of them operating within our borders?”

  My sister shrugs her shoulders. “Mother's agents are working around the clock to uncover their secrets, but it's hard if you don't have any connections to them. Their biggest protection is that they don't recruit people from within our country, yet they are able to train them sufficiently. They are able to hide themselves really well.”

  I groan. “So you are saying that this is turning into a conflict with three sides participating at the same time? This can only end in chaos!”

  Sola leans back. “More like a fight with four parties. We shouldn't forget the southern nations. It looks like they have their fingers in this too. At least our agents there say that some of them have interest in a war between Nict and Dwemer. There is still the possibility that the Dwemer are the force behind the black magicians, but I don't believe that. If that is the case, then they wouldn't need to set up such clumsy meetings with the agents whom we believe to be involved.”

  “We have agents within the southern nations?” I didn't know that. “And why don't you grab the black magicians in the capital if you already identified a few of them. If they are oper
ating openly enough to be recognized, it surely means that they are about to strike again!”

  She makes a dismissive gesture, but her expression tells me that she doesn't like it either. “Maybe calling our informants from the southern nations 'agents' is overdoing it. They are people who are informing us of their little power games. A few sacks of gold are also involved.

  Regarding the black magicians we identified, our parents believe that we should wait until we are certain to give them a decisive blow. The last stand off against them stopped their plans, but in regards to information, we are still fighting against a shadow. You can't win a war without knowing whom you are fighting.”

  I stare at my sister while considering the options. There isn't much I can do if our parents decided to gather information first. Maybe they are right, if another confrontation with the black magicians turns out in a similar manner, we gain nothing and remain as clueless as before.

  Free City States of Nict, Capital

  Assassin, Black Magician

  This is better than I thought. Smiling at the waitress, I take my cup of tea and place a few coins on the table. I was paid to deal a blow to the Gejene, according to my performance I'll get more money. Stalking the first heir of the Gejene was a hard task, she was obviously trained in avoiding pursuers.

  She even used her ability to take a few short-cuts through buildings and walls. If it wasn't for my ability to identify a certain person's aura, I would have lost her.

  And now she met with her sister! I shudder in pleasure as I think about my reward and take off the heavy wristband on my left arm. I trace the proper rune to activate the delayed spell and slip the item under the cushion of my seat.

  Creating such wristbands is costly and takes a lot of time, but I guess the use of one will pay off if I get both of the sisters. I'll surely get out of this with a big bonus for my pouch.

  Then I stand up and leave the restaurant. My targets are sitting just a few metres away from the seat which I occupied just moments ago. The delayed spell within the wristband should trigger an explosion, powerful enough to kill everyone within the restaurant.