Digital Me

by Alston Sleet

  “What dukedom would you ask for?”, asked the King hesitantly.

  I could see his greed. His lands expanded, food crops returning to his Kingdom in probably less than ten years or so. Lands now set aside for the sub-par raising of foodstuffs could be exchanged for the growth of trade or luxury crops or products. He was eager but reasonably hesitant to throw away a current noble for a known pain in the ass.

  Smiling I leaned back and exclaimed, “That’s the best part, your Majesty, I will take the former lands of the Monster Waste,” I spread my hands wide as if to say ‘see, it costs you nothing!’

  The King slowly started to tap his fingers on his desk.

  “…and if you fail?”

  “I can’t fail your Majesty,” I could see him about to cut in but I continued, “No, that’s not arrogance, it’s fact. I need to do this. Once we announce to the Kingdom that I will be removing the scourge of the Monster Waste, I will have to complete the action. My goal is my legend, and that would pledge me to it. Even if it takes me a decade, once I start, I will need to continue till it’s complete.”

  I could almost see the King envisioning his personal ass carbuncle endlessly striving at a Sisyphean task for a decade.

  “Delsar will have a 10% tax, not 5%,” he said.

  I considered for a moment. I wanted this deal to go through, I had been pushing the King very hard and he had been bending over almost backward to contain himself. Remembering my resolve not to become too arrogant, I mentally shrugged, the 5% was irrelevant.

  “As you say, your Majesty. So, this bargain then, agreed?”

  “Agreed,” the King said with an almost pained expression.

  Chapter 22

  Empress to D8+

  From: Jofrem Delcanten, Wizard of Rites 5789 GA

  To: The Information Conclave (Edlar), Universum

  Jasluc the 13th in the year 6012 GA

  Edlar,

  I have concluded my efforts in locating the research from Whilhelm “The Naturist”. I was unsuccessful in locating the method by which he transported the dungeon core in a quiescent state. I am forced to conclude that the only information available must have been transported on his person during the expedition and is now lost along with his remains. No part of his research could be found in the library or in his workroom. My secondary action to monitor the actions of the King of Loson is also hereby suspended.

  My intentions had been to remain in Loson to live out my remaining years, my bones have begun to ache and even the minor cantrips for rest and recuperation have begun to lessen in effectiveness. The Kingdom of Loson is warm in winter and while it is in a general condition of decline, it’s failure would have been long enough after I was gone. Now I find myself fleeing south into the lands of the elves.

  A new force has risen in Loson, “The Immortal Wizard”, Shawn Bradshaw.

  The lines of fate have twisted and turned from the moment he arrived in the Kingdom. He arrived in Loson without being seen by any of my spies. The only conclusion I could reach was that he traveled among the wildlands and was able to avoid discovery even by the elven spies which roam the southern forests, a feat that I have never heard of before.

  Bradshaw’s magic is also unlike any I have seen or read of before, a note for the Universum in their efforts to catalog the magical affinities. His magic covers the range from a magical shield, stone and steel manipulation, and the projection of fire. He carries no spell stones and requires none to learn his magic. I have examined his possessions and had him spied upon while he bathes, he carries no symbology upon his skin, no deformities, and handles no talismans.

  Oblique inquiries into the efforts of the infernals have given me no answers, as would be expected, but they have instead expressed surprise and confusion. Caution Edlar, I repeat this refrain, caution.

  I know Edlar, my dear friend, that you are now considering descending upon Loson and studying this man. A man who may confirm all your theories of magic. Be warned, his title is not in jest, I have personally seen him slain three times only to have his remains disappear and reform whole and unharmed. To make an enemy of this man is to put the entire Universum in danger.

  The danger is greater even than it seems for he can channel magic for as long as he concentrates on his effect irrespective of the mana cost of the spell itself. His focus is such that he can maintain a spell for a greater time than even our Arch-Magus, though his effects are within the limits of what I have herein recorded. Consider for a moment how much damage the Arch-Magus could cause if he focused the whole of his magic into fire projection instead of his affinity for the alchemical production of youthfulness.

  This man, this “Immortal Wizard”, claims to have been placed here by the gods to develop into a new godling. He believes this with his whole being. With all of my expertise in truth spells, I have focused upon him and seen no lies, no distortion of the truth. Either he has been be-spelled to believe this with a technique so perfect that it can pass muster even under my spells or instead he is telling the truth. I find myself with two mutually impossible possibilities and no way to reconcile them.

  Again, I struggle to explain the depth of the caution that must be taken here. I suggest that a wizard who has passed the full rights be stationed to gather the tales of his exploits to present to the Information Conclave later.

  Bradshaw has claimed to be unable to lie, it is unclear if he is unwilling or unable but his claim is that he would not -this may be the cost for his magical adroitness in line with your own theorem Edlar- but I can not prove such. I also know he seems obsessed with his legend spreading. Strangely it’s not a legend of greatness as one would expect of a man attempting to manipulate others into believing in his immortality, instead, his legend is to be of shrewdness, honesty, and deft retaliation for failure to follow through on deals. He even points out that this legend is to dissuade others over the passing of millennium.

  After consideration I find myself thinking this would be in line with what an immortal would strive for. I consider myself leaning towards the belief that he has been be-spelled to believe his story even as I am befuddled into wondering how my divination was deceived.

  The river of time has twisted and distorted since Bradshaw has come to prominence within the Kingdom. I have been vexed that my act of divination was the impetus that brought him to a position to alter the lines to the point where I found a need to evacuate the Kingdom. I have taken respite in the holdings of Fildin. Resting now as I do among my friends of youth, seeing their unlined faces as I recall those exact same faces besides my own, I bemoan my advancing age even as I recall that I have lived far beyond the means of normal men.

  One final warning Edlar, the river of time has formed a fork with the tines focused on Bradshaw and my friend, and assignment, the King. One tine of the fork leads to the King being destroyed, the other tine leads to the King declining in import within his own Kingdom. The outcome of this event lays upon the King’s shoulders. I have watched the young man grow into a strong ruler. I had considered whatever curse laid upon the blood of his kin to have passed him by, but his recent bouts of recklessness and uncontrolled rage leads me to reconsider this.

  I fear for my friend.

  The Arch-Magus was correct all those years ago, it is impossible to feign friendship without falling into it for real. I am less joyful with my assignment in my later years than when I was a young proud wizard sent to spy on the old King and then later commanded to directly work closely with the young King.

  My plan now is to rest here in the lands of the southern elvish conclave until my end. With the failure of my final endeavor for the Information Conclave and the Universum, I hereby resign my post as a Wizard of the Rites.

  Your humble servant,

  Jofrem Delcanten, Wizard of Rites 5789 GA

  With a sigh, Jofrem placed his quill away, used the light white writing sands that the Elves were so fond of to gently place a dusting on his formal letter of recommendations and resignation
and then blew to clear the remaining dry sand away.

  Leaning back in the sturdy chair formed from a single wispy branch curled, twisted, and woven around upon itself; a masterwork of the elven natural magic. Jofrem sat and considered his choices once again. The training of the Information Coven was careful and designed to turn wizards with the flair for divination spells into spies and reconnoiters for the Universum. Jofrem’s failures at the greater divination spells, or success in divination but failure in comprehension depending on your point of view, had relegated him to an outside position at a younger age than his fellow diviners. Without his capabilities at truth and clarity spells, he would have failed the Wizard Rites and his life would have been forfeit.

  Jofrem’s brow furrowed as he considered his friend the King. Over the recent months, small acts of spontaneous violence and uncontrolled rage had formed at the moment the King needed to be at his most controlled. It wasn’t clear if this was the same malady that was rumored to affect his forefathers or if it was some subtle poison which had somehow passed beyond the notice of the food taster which would slowly grow in its effects. Right at the moment when the King had need of his greatest effort of control, the moment when the river of time stretches into two branches when he must focus solely on control, it is stripped from him. It seems likely to be enemy action but how it was achieved was beyond Jofrem’s ken.

  With a glance once more at the letter, Jofrem looked back at his travel trunk packed with his writings and notes on his research into divination and truth spells. While he had been considered a failure by the greater Universum, his fellow diviners within the Information Conclave had come to consider him one of the greatest success stories. His long mission here in Loson had failed to learn the method to control dungeon cores, for relocation or use as weapons of war, but his research into divination and truth spells, the ways to tweak, twist, and augment the spells contained in the spell stones of the Conclave had been without equal.

  Slowly Jofrem rose from his chair and shuffled to his trunk. The fast ride to the south was painful on his aging body which had become too used to good foods and soft beds in the many years within the capital. Digging into the trunk he removed a well packaged clear glass ball and mirror smooth reflective bowl made of polished silver. Quickly Jofrem worked through the well-practiced routine to force his mind into the spell that had been used many times before.

  Focusing on the future Jofrem looked towards the fork quickly recognizing that it had passed and the decision had been made. The river ran forward, but the flow became smooth and glass-like, careful and calm, then rolled into a boil of turbulence and violence the likes of which Jofrem had seen only once before, in the days leading up to the attempted revolution and the old Kings successful recovery of the Kingdom.

  The Kings stream ended before the start of the roiling turbulence.

  There were no alternate lines, no possible futures for the King, his effect on the future would soon end. The usual interpretation for this was death, though life imprisonment or utter isolation could have a similar effect.

  While Jofrem felt a pang for his friend, he was more surprised about the placid and calm future for the Kingdom. The roiling madness that followed the presumed death of the King would normally last for many years, but this violent madness lasted but a day or more, a week at the most, then calm.

  The only variable that Jofrem could see within the river of time was the bucking movement of the river as the future death and chaos moved forward by years and then back again to months. That the King would die was preordained and fixed in time now, but when this death would come was fixed upon the actions of one man, the Immortal Wizard.

  Pulling his mind back from the stream, Jofrem wiped the tears from his eyes, then pulled another sheet of paper from his writing desk.

  “One final addendum for Edlar it seems before my years of service comes to an end.”

  The silent response from his empty room seemed to darken his words even further and Jofrem hunched over his paper to finish his life’s work.

  ###

  The ride to the capital had been uneventful and clear, even few monsters troubled the baggage train as we traveled to the Capital. Our passage took almost two weeks and I had worried the entire trip if I would arrive into the jaws of an open trap, but my husband was waiting at the palace gates with a smile and a wave.

  After a repast and rest to recover I slept well in my own chambers which were assigned next to the wizards own, a common area joining my rooms with my husband’s rooms. The morning dragged on into the afternoon before Shawn’s steward, assigned no doubt by the spy-master or the King, informed me of my husband’s afternoon tea request.

  I contained myself long enough to have the tea served and meat and cheese slices arranged but couldn’t control my anxiousness further.

  “Explain again why you think it’s safe for me in the capital.”

  Shawn paused while drinking his tea before continuing his sipping. My husband’s mannerisms were still odd to me. Polite, informal, even dismissive of our relative social station, but careful to avoid offense even as he gathers a well-earned reputation for ruthlessness and cunning.

  “It’s safe because I’m not protecting you. The King could kill you at any time.”

  Another slow sip of the tea as a small smile formed on his lips. I was not comfortable with his answer or the joy he seemed to gain from it.

  Swallowing another sip he continued, “No one who was in conflict as I am with the King would leave someone they care for at the mercy of the King. I am leaving you at his mercy. I obviously do care about you, so this is a problem.”

  Shawn paused and looked me directly in the eyes before starting again.

  “The answer is that I will just kill the King if you are harmed. You will be dead, but then, so will the King. Knowing that I’m willing to leave you in harm’s way means that few would consider harming you since the purpose of harming you would be to indirectly harm me, this shows it wouldn’t, therefore: safe.”

  Shawn’s hand gently gestured with his half empty tea cup as he emphasized each point, almost sloshing his tea out at his final pronouncement. I flinched at his threat to the King, even the accusation of such a pronouncement would normally result in public execution. Shawn stated his willingness to commit regicide without hesitation or even a lowering of his voice.

  “That convoluted stream of double think only works if the King follows it to that point, how can you be sure that your knotted thinking is correct? Doesn’t this fig leaf of protection only apply if the King knows of it?”

  My husband’s damnable smirk stretched into a full grin.

  “He does. Why do you think I’ve said as much right here where the spies in the walls could hear me?”

  Again, a roguish smile and an eye twinkle as he gulped the last of his tea.

  Shawn was informing me that my every word and action would be spied upon, something I had considered already, also that his primary plan was going forward as he had decided and that things were looking good. The request for afternoon tea instead of morning tea had been the signal that Delana had prescribed for this.

  Waving over my love Sasha, I signaled for her to pour another cup.

  “If it is all the same to you, I will work to at least blunt the King’s anger with you. Perhaps if he knows that he has my ear he will have a way to at least direct you into a diversion or two instead of your constant irritation of his plans.”

  A shrug, that was all the damned man did. Shrug! We were plotting the death of a King, the control of a Kingdom, the upheaval of the normal order and he seemed to be as carefree as a grinning fool!

  ###

  The ride northward to the Monster Wastes was mostly uneventful. Since the decline of the northern farmlands, few bandits would be willing to plague our travel. It’s a foolish brigand who plagues a mostly unused road.

  I spent much of my journey trying to glean information from my ‘guide’ Rolick. The King’s messenger was
assigned to deliver me to the edge of the Monster Waste and I was sure in order to try and spy out my plans on the way. I remembered again how adroit the man had been at deflecting my inquiries away from himself and towards my own past so I tried to focus instead on what I would face in the Monster Waste.

  Felvers’ had been correct in his story of the Monster Waste: Fire, Air, and Earth elementals. I understood from Rolick’s description that the fire and air elementals had been the main point of difficulty and the true cause of the tragedy of the Monster Waste.

  The earth elementals are Golems of stone, some containing precious ores, and was the main reason for the selection of this dungeon core as the expeditions misbegotten efforts. Each earth elemental destroyed would provide resources for the Kingdom in metals and magical stonework. This would be worth far more than the magic core which was used in some spells or as a powder in alchemy recipes.

  The stone elementals though only formed near the dungeon core so until I passed the outer expanse of the Monster Waste I would be unlikely to fight them. The air and fire elementals roamed freely within the entirety of the Monster Waste, each a swirling immaterial maelstrom as large as a man with a monster core as the sole weak point. These whirling engines of destruction had burned and uprooted all the plants in the region creating a burned and then re-burned, tossed and swirled the desert for the breadth of the Monster Waste. Each year the Monster Waste had expanded, though the growth had slowed as it expanded.

  “Striking the core can disrupt the swirling devils, but only for a time. Cracking or breaking the monster core is the only sure way to kill an air or fire elemental.”

  I nodded politely as Rolick explained the basics of fighting elementals. He had explained this point multiple times, Rolick seemed very invested in my success with the Monster Waste. I had the feeling that the King had threatened him in regards to my mission. Rolick seemed less casual and relaxed about our travel than he had when taking me to the King, then again, he didn’t know I was immortal and dangerous at that time either.