by Nat Russo
“You didn’t miss much except a lot of yelling and insults, trust me,” Nicolas said.
Mujahid frowned. “Follow my voice, and do everything I say. Clear your mind and remember the room with two doors.”
“I can see it.”
“Good,” Mujahid said. “Now, don’t go anywhere near the white door, do you understand?”
She seemed confused, but she nodded. “Um…okay. No white door.”
“I want you to focus on the black door,” Mujahid said. “That’s where you want to go. Look at it and tell me what you see.”
She shook her head.
“It’s okay,” Mujahid said. “Focus on the black door. Ignore the white door and turn toward the black.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Kaitlyn said. “There is no black door. Just a red door and a blue door.”
Mujahid turned away. His expression terrified Nicolas. It was clear he had no idea what Kaitlyn was talking about. And Nicolas sure as hell didn’t have any idea either.
After several moments, Mujahid whispered.
“Chimeramancy? How can this be?”
“What’s that?” Kaitlyn asked.
“Wait,” Nicolas said. “What was that word you just used?”
“Chimeramancy,” Mujahid and Kaitlyn said in unison.
“Yeah, that one,” Nicolas said. “I’d forgotten all about it until you said it. I had a close friend in Aquonome—”
“Where?” Kaitlin asked.
“The cichlos…Toridyn?” Mujahid asked.
“Yeah, Tor,” Nicolas said. “When we met, he told me he never wanted to be a necromancer in the first place. He wanted to be a chimeramancer, but they told him he couldn’t. Then later, after the battle here at the Pinnacle, when Arin spoke to Siek Lamil, he told him the cichlos chimeramancers wouldn’t have to make the great sacrifice, whatever that is. The cichlos must know something about this. But…and don’t take this the wrong way, Mujahid…what in the name of Malvol’s butt crack is chimeramancy?”
Mujahid winced. “Surely you didn’t spend that much time with Nuuan?”
Nicolas held his hands out as if to say well, answer the question.
“Chimeramancy is a form of dream magic,” Mujahid said. “And it hasn’t been seen in the Three Kingdoms since long before the Great Barrier, notwithstanding the cichlos. In fact, long before Nuuan and I ascended.”
“Can it make people do things they don’t wanna do?” Nicolas asked.
“Oh, it’s much more than that. Chimeramancers have complete control over their dream state. And whatever they dream they have the power to manifest in the waking world…but only so long as they maintain the dream. If they are woken or disturbed in any way, the dream collapses, and with it whatever reality their magic manifested.”
“I can do what?” Kaitlyn asked.
“That’s gotta be what this is,” Nicolas said. “Before she woke up, she’d taken complete control of me. She made me stand up, walk over to the weapon rack, and damn-near kill myself.”
“Oh my god, Nick!”
Mujahid squinted. “A strange manifestation. But then she hasn’t Awakened, so perhaps she’s creating realities from a dream state she doesn’t completely control. If she doesn’t Awaken soon—”
“How much time do we have?” Nicolas asked.
“Days? A week? It’s impossible to determine with any accuracy. Had she been born and raised here, her parents would have taught her of the Halls of Power, and she would have recognized the signs herself.”
“I’m going to send for the cichlos,” Nicolas said. “But there has to be something we can do until they get here.”
Mujahid nodded. “You may not recall your first day on Erindor as clearly as I do. You were under great stress. But I slowed your Awakening long enough to provide you with some basic knowledge. I can teach you to do the same for Kaitlyn. But there’s no time to wait for them.”
“Aquonome is hundreds of miles away,” Nicolas said. “It would take more than a week to get there.”
Mujahid shook his head. “Tithian can provide you with a translocation orb that will take you close to Caspardis. From there…you know the way.”
“Wait,” Nicolas said. “You’re not coming with me?”
“It’s clear to me Nuuan plays some greater role in this, and I think it’s time for me to know what that is. I’m going to find him. I’ve waited long enough for his return.”
“But I need you here!”
“There is…a power at play here that I don’t understand,” Mujahid said. “I fear what may happen if it is left unchecked. I must find Nuuan and figure this out.”
Nicolas commanded Kagan to find Tithian. If he needed to bring Kaitlyn to Aquonome, he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Mujahid spent several minutes teaching Nicolas the simple flow of necropotency that could slow the Awakening process of another. The method involved placing a shield around the other person’s well of power so it wouldn’t fill with ambient energy.
“I’ll go first,” Mujahid said. “Watch what I do. When I remove the shield, you try.”
A wave of necropotency left Mujahid and swept past Nicolas. But when the power entered Kaitlyn, Mujahid shrunk away and stopped channeling.
“This…this isn’t…”
“What is it?” Kaitlyn asked.
Mujahid smiled at her. It was the smile of a man who wasn’t sure how to tell someone a huge spider was crawling on their head.
“Well?” Nicolas asked.
“She has no well of power,” Mujahid said.
Nicolas’s chest tightened and Mujahid put a hand on his shoulder.
“Chimeramancy is very rare,” Mujahid said. “I’ve never had the opportunity to study it in depth. It seems they don’t require a power source in the same sense that you and I do. So…”
“So you don’t know how to slow her Awakening?”
“I have an idea. But neither of you are going to like it. And it’s not going to be easy.”
“Lay it on us.”
“You must not sleep, young lady. Not for long, at least. Chimeramancers use dreams, and so you must stay out of a dream state. It will be difficult. The headaches will be excruciating, but I can teach Nicolas to help you with those.”
Nicolas closed his eyes and lowered his head. “I can’t do this alone.”
“You must, and you will,” Mujahid said. “Pack what you need, but do it quickly. Get Kaitlyn to Aquonome as soon as you can.”
“I will.”
“Now let’s teach you how to deal with those headaches.”
“Wait,” Nicolas said. “There’s…”
“What is it?”
“You’ve seen war,” Nicolas said.
Mujahid gave him a questioning look. “I’ve seen more than any man should.”
“I haven’t. Not really.”
“You fought one battle after another to bring the barrier down.”
“Not the same thing. I’m talking about generals and armies and navies and…everything that goes into a war. The Barathosians are out there. Right now. And just when this place needs an archmage the most, I can’t be here. I can’t. And even if I were…what do I know? What would I do that could make any difference?”
Mujahid nodded and glanced at Kaitlyn. “I know what this is about.”
“I need your skills,” Nicolas said. “As a warrior. As a general. As a leader.”
“You underestimate Tithian. And you underestimate the Three Kingdoms.”
“I don’t know Tithian. Not like I know you.”
Mujahid harrumphed. “He’s far more than he lets on half the time. But you can rest assured he has your interests at heart.”
“It’s not my interests I’m concerned about right now. Everyone looks at me with…expectation. Like I’m supposed to have a handle on everything. And I don’t even know what an archmage does yet. How am I supposed to fight a war?”
“We’ve had precious little time to tal
k about what your new duties entail. But the Three Kingdoms doesn’t need you to be a general. They need you to be an archmage.” Mujahid shook his head. “If you confuse the two, we may as well hand the Three Kingdoms over to the Barathosians.”
“But what does that mean?”
“It means don’t be Kagan. It means be the bright, inquisitive—often infuriating—young man I know you to be. Arin didn’t ask you to be archmage because he expected something new from you. He asked because he wanted the Nicolas he’d come to know. The Nicolas that stood up to an archmage when few others would. The Nicolas that brought down the barrier and rescued the gods themselves. That’s what it means. Now, let’s learn to deal with Lady Kaitlyn’s headaches before they worsen beyond our ability to control.”
Nicolas nodded and did his best to follow along.
A knock on the chamber doors told Nicolas Tithian had arrived, but it came as no surprise. Kagan was standing outside the room and warned Nicolas through the necromantic link moments earlier.
Toby had started whining long before Kagan’s warning, though.
Beagle nose trumps undead spidey sense, I guess.
“Come on in,” Nicolas said.
Tithian entered the room, and Nicolas could tell he wasn’t happy.
Toby grabbed his gatorpickle and jumped up on Tithian’s leg, for which he was rewarded with a scratch behind the ears. It seemed Toby had won him over.
“I don’t have time to hear it right now,” Nicolas said. “I love ya, man, but this is important.”
“Just hear me out for a moment,” Tithian said, closing the door behind him. His eyes turned toward Kaitlyn, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. He bowed his head in her direction. “Lady Kaitlyn. Please pardon my interruption.”
Kaitlyn waved her hand. “You weren’t interrupting.”
Tithian faced Nicolas once more. “I understand. Truly, I do. And I’m not going to try to stop you. But you’re our archmage now, and there are things you need to know. Not the least of which are the potential consequences of your chosen course of action. You are not yet a politician. But you need to be. And it’s my duty to help you become one.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Nicolas asked. “I can’t just let her die.”
“I really wish you’d stop saying that,” Kaitlyn said.
Toby jumped up into her lap when she spoke.
“Of course you can’t,” Tithian said, waving Nicolas’s comment away. “I’d never suggest it. But when you return to the Pinnacle…and you will return…you’re going to find the Council difficult to tame. They’ve had months to consolidate their power without you.”
“They have you,” Nicolas said.
Tithian shook his head. “I’m expendable, Archmage, and they know it. You have a divine calling. I was hired.”
“You did well without me.”
“Barely. You have no idea what things were like when you were gone. Forty years of quakes, starvation, and disease, gone like that.” Tithian snapped both fingers. “Loved ones thought dead returned to families who refused to believe they were real…families who had already disposed of property and other inheritances. Nations on the precipice of war because of an assassination—committed by your predecessor, I might add. And a people coming to grips with the knowledge that what they once thought sacrosanct—the Book of Life itself—could be forged by a madman. It was chaos, and it’s a testament to Arin’s power the Three Kingdoms didn’t destroy one another in the six months you were away.
“And if all of that isn’t enough, there’s still the Barathosian problem to consider. They’re sitting off the coast of Dar Rodon as we speak. They’re not going anywhere, Archmage. Are you prepared to deal with them? Do you have any plan for how the Council should approach this situation? Because when you return, I fear for what may happen if you don’t take definitive control.”
Nicolas lowered his head. Kaitlyn was days away from death. He couldn’t deal with all of this right now. But Tithian was right. He had a responsibility to the people of the Three Kingdoms. And in some way he had a responsibility to the Council of Magi. But there was someone Tithian left out. Arin.
Nicolas had sworn an oath to Arin at great personal sacrifice. At the time, he thought he’d never see Kaitlyn or Earth again. But having her back didn’t change his obligation. It didn’t change his duty to this new world. Well…new to him, at least. He’d fight off an army to save Kaitlyn if he had to. But he couldn’t ever forget that he was the archmage.
“I’m not going to be able to do this by myself,” Nicolas said.
“No one is expecting you to. But you will have to play your part. The part of an archmage. You can start by dressing like a Council magus. Remember, no one is going to recognize you on sight. You may think that a blessing, but trust me when I tell you it can be a curse.”
“What about these?” Nicolas asked, tugging at the archmage robes he was wearing.
“No,” Tithian said. “I’ll not have you taking a risk like that without me. You don’t go traipsing around dressed like the archmage without protection. Especially now.”
Tithian opened the wardrobe and examined the contents. He rifled through several of the robes, shirts, and trousers until he came to a white robe with a black scapular. He took the robe and trousers off a hanger and laid them on Nicolas’s bed.
“There’s pants?” Nicolas asked.
Tithian raised an eyebrow. “You’re not wearing pants?”
“No one told me about pants!” Nicolas held the pants at his side. Perfect length. “Wait. These aren’t girl pants, are they?”
“You’ll need this,” Tithian said.
Tithian handed him a small, black sphere. Larger than a marble, but small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. It was cool to the touch. Nicolas examined it for markings, but the sphere was seamless.
“That’s a translocation orb,” Tithian said. “It’s attuned to the Caspardis area. The city gate should be in view of your arrival point, as I recall. I’m…aware you’ve been there.”
Nicolas sniffed.
Been there? That was an understatement. The last time he’d been there, he was tossed into a dungeon, found guilty of heresy, flogged to within an inch of his life, and tossed into Lake Caspardis to drown.
Yeah…he’d been there.
“How does it work?” Nicolas asked.
“When you want to travel, channel a small amount of power into it. It will do the rest. Just make sure you’re touching whoever you want to travel with. The more people you take, the more power it will use. It should bring you back to the sanctuary here.”
“Should?”
Tithian blinked. “It’s best you don’t get involved in some things.”
“Tithian.”
“There are objects of power at the Pinnacle that sometimes disrupt the flow of magic,” Tithian said. “But they won’t be here long.”
Nicolas gave him a suspicious look.
“Please,” Tithian said. “Trust me.”
“I can’t help but wonder about something,” Nicolas said.
“What?” Tithian asked.
“I wonder what Kagan would do in my place. I mean, with the Council the way it is and the Barathosians invading?”
“I can’t say for certain, mind you. But I’m willing to lay good odds on him assassinating a diplomat, imprisoning his own people under a magical dome that slowly destroys the world, and eradicating anyone who disagrees with him. But what do I know?”
“Point taken.”
“When you’re tempted to ask yourself what Kagan would do…stop,” Tithian said. “Erindor has known a Kagan already. It’s time for the world to know a Nicolas.”
Nicolas nodded. “I will get Kaitlyn to the cichlos. And I will come back and set things straight here. You have my word.”
“There is something I must do in your absence,” Tithian said. “I have loyal contacts in Tildem. They work for me…in a sense.”
“What does that mean? Spy
stuff?”
Tithian waved his hand as if to tell Nicolas to speak quietly.
“I trust you to sort it out,” Nicolas said.
“Lady Kaitlyn,” Tithian said as he bowed.
When the door closed behind him, Nicolas put his arm around Kaitlyn.
“I know this is all crazy,” Nicolas said. “But we’ll get through this together. The people I’m taking you to, they’ll know what to do.”
“I hope so,” Kaitlin said.
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CHAPTER SIX
1The Divine Plan
2The Tree of Life grew to a wondrous height, drawing the gaze of The Power. 3But the Power looked upon the Tree and was repulsed, for chaos and wickedness had engulfed it. 4The Power drew the gods unto himself, and Arin spake:
5“Why have these great and terrible powers manifested themselves within us?”
6“We shall bring beauty to the Tree, children,” The Power said. 7“We shall embrace the chaos and wickedness and call it Good. 8And in so doing, the Tree shall become beautiful in our eyes.”
9“Your plan is wise, Father,” Arin said. 10“Bestow all of your power unto me and I will do your will.” 11And so The Power extended his hands and planted his essence into Arin.
- The Mukhtaar Chronicles, attributed to the prophet Habakku
Origines Multiversi, Emergentiae 5:1-11
The Ancient Religarian word for “to plant” (tabad’ul) is synonymous with “to transfer”. Are we, then, to interpret this to mean The Power became powerless? Hardly. The Power retained enough essence to split the Tree of Life into two halves, as we see in a subsequent chapter of the Origines. It would be unwise to think The Power transferred all of himself into Arin. But the question remains, just how much of The Power resides within Arin?
- Coteon of the Steppes, “Coteonic Commentaries on the Origines Multiversi” (circa 520 RL)
Aelron couldn’t be anywhere near this festival when Constable Chicanery discovered the corpses of that Council magus and his companion. That meant getting out of this village. Undetected if possible.
Wagon wheels churned mud on the west end of the village, slowed by the growing downpour. Four adda pulled a large wagon that towed a flat trailer covered with a canvas tarp.