by Alex C Vick
“The thing is…” Shannon started, hanging her head and closing her fingers over her palm.
“It’s not mine, is it? I stole it. If I hadn’t harvested that living magic, I would just be a normal magician. So I feel like a bit of a fraud.”
I laughed. I could certainly put her straight on that one. She had told me she’d given her magic a bit of a boost after first learning of the treaty.
“Harvesting some living magic of my own,” she’d said, to help defend herself when the time came.
I’d thought it was quite a smart thing for a non-magician to figure out. She had used a Terran tree to supplement her force field, just like we did in Living Magic classes at the Seminary.
But it was a transient increase. Living magic, when removed from its source, needs a Protection Spell to survive. Yes, it would have helped her to defeat Marcus and probably even Angelus, to a certain extent. But not much more than that.
“I don’t mean to laugh at you,” I apologised. “But of course it is yours. Living magic only lasts for a limited time. Whatever your strength is now, it is entirely your own.”
Shannon looked back at me incredulously, and then she turned to Jax, who was equally shocked.
“Really?” she asked. “This is me?”
“Well, yes. I’m surprised no one has explained this to you.”
“Maybe they don’t know?” Jax wondered. “Living magic is so carefully controlled these days. I mean, compared to when you were alive.”
I raised my eyebrows. I am alive now, thank you very much.
“No,” Jax corrected himself quickly, “that’s not what I meant, obviously you are alive… just not where we come from.”
He looked embarrassed. “Sorry.”
I smiled, but felt bound to point it out to him.
“You may have to accept a new reality. Where I come from is now where you come from as well.”
Shannon put her hand back, and I instigated the spell. The rush of memories was short and fierce, dating only from the time her magical ability had first been activated.
I had found Terra overwhelming the first time I discovered it, but this was something else. It was now an extremely sophisticated, dangerous world. And Shannon… Well, she was complicated too. Her magic was formidable, but her skill and her confidence lagged some way behind it.
She had feelings for Jax, I could tell, but she was wary. I smothered a grin. She thinks he can do better than her? No. Green eyes are not the be all and end all to everything.
Yet, I reminded myself, he was not so sure of her either. Perhaps it was good they did not take each other for granted. Their match will be more considerate this way.
I was about to end the connection, when I saw something that made me freeze with shock. The treaty. Her memory of reading the treaty and the names underneath it. Emperor Titus. I dragged it forwards. There was no mistaking it.
Which must mean it was signed in my lifetime. Feeling slightly sick, I dropped the spell. Shannon and Jax immediately began using it to talk to each other.
Emperor Titus. No. It can’t be. It must be a coincidence. Titus is a popular enough name. I pushed the uncomfortable thought to the back of my mind, but it would not be denied.
If this Angelus was going to kill thousands of people in the near future, then I was obliged to do my best to prevent it. Except… I’m free, I thought desperately. I’m supposed to be free. I can’t go back to Androva now. I won’t!
Jax and Shannon had let go of each other’s hands.
“Everything OK?” I asked them, pulling myself together. Before I could even think about any of this, I had to get them home.
With difficulty, I recalled my plans from the night before.
“I have two ideas to discuss with you,” I said. “Firstly, were you using an Advanced Invisibility Spell yesterday?”
Jax didn’t answer immediately, still half distracted by the Communication Spell.
“Yes, we were,” he replied after a moment. “For all the good it did us.”
I sighed.
“That is unfortunate. It means your Sygnus will have overridden the spell you used to open the portal. Otherwise we could have used it to get the coordinates to send you back.”
Jax looked as disappointed as I felt.
“Secondly, then,” I went on, thinking about the book we had all used to get here, “there is one Signature Symbol left in our future. It is created tomorrow at a wedding in the temple of Apollo. What are the chances that your friend Darius will figure out what you have done and come to get you?”
Jax and Shannon thought about it.
“There is every chance, actually,” said Jax slowly. “I even sent him a text joking about how we had gone to Rome.”
I knew that a text was a message on their Terran devices. Spells at the touch of a fingertip. Except Shannon called it science, not magic.
Jax turned to her.
“What do you think?” he asked.
She was enthusiastic, arguing that Darius would surely guess what had happened when he came upon the open book and the Signature Symbols.
Then her face fell. “But how will he know which one to use? We had five to choose from.”
“And there will now be four left,” I reminded her. “They disappear from the book once used. Does he know which ones were missing already?”
Shannon nodded.
“Then if he thinks you are in trouble, he will likely choose the symbol after the new gap rather than before it.
“It may not be a certainty, but… I think it is your best chance.”
They agreed. I drank some more wine, suddenly feeling like I needed it. Emperor Titus. Emperor Titus. The words kept reappearing in my head.
Now, our positions were reversed. Jax and Shannon had a plan, but my future was completely uncertain.
What am I going to do?
Chapter 20 - The Trouble With Time Travel
Asking Jax and Shannon for help was not an option. They’d already risked their own lives too many times. If, and it was a big if, I decided to return to Androva to warn everyone about Angelus, Jax and Shannon might never even meet. That was not an outcome I could expect them to discuss rationally.
Come on, Galen . As if you can consider any of this rationally yourself! Am I really noble enough to throw away my entire future happiness?
A warning delivered by me was very likely to fall on deaf ears. Then Angelus would happen anyway, and my life with Claudia would have been sacrificed in vain.
I still had to figure out the means of making Shannon into a magician two thousand years from now. That could be my purpose in all of this. Shannon and Jax ultimately defeat Angelus with my help, don’t they?
Yes. That is enough to think about.
Reversing the Spell of Removal was a challenge of enormous proportions. I decided I would not worry about the rest yet.
We discussed Jax and Shannon’s plan. I warned them to leave Pompeii immediately after the wedding. If a portal did not open for them, they would have to come straight back here to use mine, before the fire came down from the mountain.
I told them they would be safe if we all left together now. Part of me hoped they would agree. But they decided they would take the risk of waiting at the temple.
And, as Shannon said, what if Darius opened the portal and she and Jax weren’t there? Darius would be stuck in Pompeii with no one to help him.
I resolved to stay with them until the following morning. Claudia was not expecting me until then, and besides, Jax and Shannon were good company.
I fetched them both some Roman clothes, saying it would be a lot easier to blend in if they were dressed like everyone else. When I told them they looked like a respectable married couple, Shannon choked on the grape she was eating.
“What is this obsession with marriage?” she spluttered. “I am seriously going to freak out if it gets mentioned again!”
Jax laughed.
“Well, we’re on your world now,�
�� he said. “You can’t blame me this time.”
I didn’t know what the problem was. Surely they are already matched?
“Do not worry. Marriage in the Roman Empire exists mainly for the production of legitimate children, so no one will expect you to show affection for each other in public.”
Shannon looked horrified, and Jax laughed so much he had to bend over.
He explained it to me when he got his breath back.
“On the part of Terra where Shannon is from, marriage happens much, much later, if at all. It is not arranged formally in the way we are used to.”
Interesting. Perhaps they are not matched then. I wonder how the Council is going to deal with that.
It turned out to be an enjoyable day for me. I got to see Pompeii through their eyes, as if for the first time. The noise, the people, the food, and even the arena.
When we returned, I showed them how to perform a basic Detection Spell, so they could find magical energy for themselves. In return, they promised to destroy the remaining Signature Symbols in my book. I wanted to be certain no one else could ever come back for me.
I left it up to them to decide whether they would share the Communication Spell with others. They quickly agreed not to. Jax went white as he imagined being interrogated by someone with the ability to steal memories.
Remembering what Nico had done to me that first time, I nodded. “I believe you are making the right decision.”
Then I asked Jax for the specific coordinates of where Shannon lived.
“I don’t know yet how I am going to ensure that she becomes a magician in your time. But if I know where she will be when it happens, that is half the battle.”
The more I thought about it, the more excited I felt.
Yes, it seems impossible. But Shannon is a magician. Surely that means I succeed?
It had to have something to do with the living magic. In her memories, she had been touching the tree when her spark came to life. If I could create a spell as part of the living magic at that exact place, it might work.
Of course, I had to create the spell first, but at least I knew how to make it endure.
We tried to get an early night. It would be the last in Pompeii for all of us, no matter what happened the following day. I struggled to fall asleep, afraid I would dream of Angelus again. Eventually I made a Sleep Remedy and took a few sips.
After breakfast, Shannon asked me to share a memory of Claudia with her. I did it gladly. As our force fields connected again, I sensed something familiar. Shannon reminded me a little of Claudia. Perhaps it was because they were both Terrans.
Before they left, there was one more thing I wanted to do. I asked Jax to follow me into the atrium.
“Just some man-to-man stuff,” I said to Shannon, in answer to her perplexed look.
“What is it?” Jax asked.
“Two things,” I replied, keeping my voice even. “And please know that I am not judging you. But I cannot unsee what I have seen inside your head, and therefore I feel obliged to say this.”
“Now I’m worried!” said Jax half jokingly.
“First,” I went on, “there can only ever be one of you. The version of you who is consciously travelling within your own timeline will automatically replace any other you it encounters. Please remember that.”
“Um… I guess that makes sense,” said Jax. “But why are you telling me this?”
“Second,” I said, ignoring his question, “do not try to alter the past unless you are prepared to live with a different future. The smallest change can ripple forwards inexorably, like a rock that gains relentless momentum as it falls down the side of a mountain.”
“I don’t understand why you’re telling me this,” Jax repeated.
“Yes, you do. If you make it back home today, I fear it is inevitable.”
I waited, and Jax gradually understood what I was referring to. He looked down at the floor, avoiding my gaze. I am right, then. His mother. He would very likely try to save her, now he knew how.
But it could make him into a different person. If he ended up regretting it… And then I had an idea.
I asked him to rejoin Shannon. I grabbed a small flat stone from the impluvium, the sunken pool of water in the middle of the atrium floor.
I projected a Manipulation Spell to engrave my name on one side, and then I turned it into a Signature Symbol. I was going to give Jax a way of returning to this moment, just in case he did have any regrets.
I did not make it powerful. If he used this stone, the portal was not going to stay open. Otherwise we might find ourselves having a very long debate, with no right or wrong answer.
Before I could even put the stone into my pocket, Jax fell into the room in front of me. Something or someone had pushed him through a portal, which immediately closed.
“No!” Jax shouted, as soon as he realised where he was. “No!” he repeated, scrambling to his feet and desperately grabbing the air as if he could make the portal reappear.
He looked a year older than the Jax I had just been talking to. Thinner, with huge shadows under his eyes, and only just holding his emotions together.
I was relieved. I thought his return was for the best. But my heart went out to him all the same.
Shannon appeared at a run, but I held my hand up and gave her a warning look. She stopped a few metres away, looking fearfully at Jax.
I put my hand on Jax’s shoulder, and he clenched his jaw.
“I am sorry,” I said gently. “More sorry than I can say.”
Shannon was almost crying to see Jax so upset. He took a few deep breaths, trying to get his emotions back under control. Shannon, looking at him, realised his clothes had changed.
“What happened to you?” she asked, unable to stay silent any longer. “Why are your clothes different?”
Jax looked at me.
“You were right,” he said. “I did it. I went back to stop her dying. But it was just like you said. I couldn’t stop the rock from falling down the mountain. Everything changed. Every single thing.”
He was shaking as he tried to explain it to us. Yes, his mother had lived. But he had been a different Jax, living a life without Shannon, on a world he didn’t recognise.
And yet, he had not used my Signature Symbol. He had been unable to face losing his mother for a second time. When he said it was she, his mother, who had pushed him through the portal against his will, Shannon started crying.
I felt his pain. He had gone back to save his mother, but in the end she had saved him. I made a decision that I was done with time travel. The risks were too great.
Jax and Shannon put their arms around each other.
“I missed you,” he said quietly. “I really missed you.”
It made me wish Claudia were here. Suddenly I was eager to get back to her. And Jax and Shannon were nearly out of time as well.
She hugged me goodbye, and I told her that I hoped I would never see her again. For the right reasons, of course.
Jax thanked me for everything, including the Signature Symbol. He said it was too soon for him to unravel all his feelings about it, but he was grateful I had given him the chance to come back.
They were about to leave, when he turned back to me.
“You need to create a spell that reverses the Spell of Removal, and then bind it to the earth at the coordinates we gave you earlier,” he said urgently. “The living magic will protect it.”
I blinked in surprise.
“That’s exactly what I thought. But how did you know?”
“We talked about it last time,” said Jax, smiling. “I just didn’t want to take any chances.”
Of course. He had lived this day already. The thought cheered me up immensely. Although time travel was turning out to be quite unpredictable, there was surely a good chance he and Shannon would return home safely again.
As soon as they had left, Invisibility Spells in place, I opened my portal. There would be no one to close it
behind me, but that didn’t matter. This house was empty. The portal would not survive the mountain, and until then I wanted it open for Jax and Shannon. Just in case.
When I was back in the capital city, I broke into a run. Now I was so close to being with Claudia again, I could hardly wait another moment.
As I arrived in the street where we had rented our room, I saw her pacing up and down in front of the window. When she saw me, she cried out.
“Galen, Galen!”
We met on the stairs, holding onto each other as if we’d been apart for two weeks, not two days.
It felt like coming home.
She took my hand, her words tumbling through the spell. Her anxiousness was fading, being replaced by relief and happiness at seeing me.
“I’d talked myself into believing something had happened! The longer you were gone, the more convinced I was that someone from Androva had come to find you.”
“They did.”
There was a stunned silence, and then I felt her fear. She said nothing at first. She squeezed my hand more tightly, and I could hear her talking to herself.
“But he’s here, so he must have escaped. Unless I’m imagining this from lack of sleep. Unless—”
“Claudia,” I interrupted her, “it is definitely me. I’m here. I shouldn’t have said something so dramatic. Yes, someone from Androva used the Signature Symbol, but it’s not what you think.
“When I’ve finished explaining, you might wish it were that simple.”
Chapter 21 - Britannia
I told her all about Jax and Shannon. It was a strange mixture in my head. My memories and theirs, Claudia’s thoughts and emotions, and the present alongside the past.
The flash of interest I felt from her when she saw Jax was very unsettling. It disappeared quickly enough, but I couldn’t stop the jealousy from tugging at my chest. It was not something I’d had to deal with before, and I didn’t like it.
“Galen…” she said. “You do know I can feel that, don’t you?”
“Feel what?”
“That,” she repeated, pushing my emotions back towards me. It was quite unpleasant.
“Yes,” she agreed. “It’s horrible. Please stop.”