Deimos made a gripping motion with a raised right hand and my vision went blurry. I couldn’t breathe again and I had just started recovering from the last time. This time was different though it wasn’t a large force pushing down on me, preventing the muscles in my diaphragm from contracting. It was more like there was a filter in my throat blocking only the oxygen from going in. I could still feel the air pumping in and out of my lungs, but each breath brought no relief, instead each breathe brought a new level of terror as the burning sensation deep in my throat faded along with everything else.
‘Shame,’ said Mai. ‘Think of it this way though. Some people pay good money for this sort of experience.’
Then, just before I lost consciousness, everything was back. I coughed in a lungful of air, as my chest started heaving rapidly to restore normal oxygen levels.
“That’s enough, Deimos. There’s no reason to beat up on a novice,” said a familiar voice. It was Zelus, the disreputable noble I kept crossing paths with. He was also a student at the academy and apparently had been nearby in the library when everything went down.
“I’m not afraid of your illusions,” Deimos said to Zelus. “You’re lucky,” he said turning to me. “My personal progress won’t be benefitted from beating down novices and wannabe mentalists.”
Zelus and Rose grabbed me, one arm apiece, and dragged me away. They helped me until I finally caught my breath, returned to my feet, and started pulling back towards Deimos and his cronies.
“Isaac, please calm down,” said Rose as she tried to restrain me. “It’s not a big deal they’re always like that. I’m sure we can find somewhere else to work.”
“No,” I answered, temper still flaring wildly. I wouldn’t go back. I was sick of it. Bullies back home, the beastmen, and now Deimos and his flunkies, all of them picked on me, mocked me, beat on me. I had gone through a lot since then. I was stronger now. I wasn’t going to let it happen again. Not without a fight.
“Calm down, my friend,” said Zelus in his smooth, dulcet voice. “They’ll get what’s coming to them.”
“Personal progress,” I muttered under my breath, Deimos’ parting words repeating in my head as I continued to struggle against Rose and Zelus. An idea struck me. “Progress,” I repeated. Progress was the answer. I felt sure of it.
I stopped struggling and my friends let go of me. I stood their silently for a long moment, as the cogs in my head started turning madly, trying to process this new idea.
Rose and Zelus stared at me oddly. I had just completely shifted gears, in what was in their minds, out of the blue.
“Isaac, buddy… you okay?” Zelus asked.
“Yeah, snap out of it you’re starting to worry me,” Rose concurred.
“Fine,” I said, shaking my head to clear out the cobwebs. “I’m fine, just had an idea. I know what to do.”
“Yeah, I already said. We need to find somewhere else to work. Zelus, do you think the promenade will be full?” inquired Rose.
“Probably, this is the busiest time right now, but we can go look. Worst case, you let me take you to dinner. If this place is still busy afterwards, we can go to my place,” Zelus enthusiastically schemed despite Rose’s growing frown.
“Please. When are you going to give up on this?” Rose huffed.
“On someone as beautiful as you? Never,” Zelus replied.
“Humph. How about the belfry?” said Rose.
“That’s not going to work. Isaac’s not allowed in the Academy proper,” Zelus reminded.
“Well we have to find somewhere to study?” said Rose.
“No Rose, we won’t be studying somewhere else,” I said, interrupting their little pow-wow.
“What,” Rose exclaimed.
“At least not for a while,” I clarified. “Zelus, look after her. Try to keep those slimy bastards away.”
‘So you set one to guard her from the rest,’ Mai joked.
“Zelus is slimy but he’s not a bastard,” I mistakenly replied. Fortunately, it wasn’t entirely out of context and didn’t draw unwanted attention.
“Thanks for the halved compliment,” said Zelus.
“What do you mean we aren’t studying together anymore?” Rose grumbled.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine without me slowing you down. Most of the practical stuff you need two people for, you’ve already got down. Although you may prefer my company, if you need more help, I’m sure Zelus would oblige,” I said.
‘About time you ditched the witch,’ said Mai.
“But-”
“You have your finals and I have something else to work on,” I said looking back toward Deimos and his cronies.
“What are you going to do?” asked Rose.
“Don’t worry you’ll see. Everyone will. Yes, everyone,” I maniacally laughed. “I’ll come back to see you once I’m finished. In the meantime keep up the work.”
“But you’ll fall so far behind when you were just starting to catch up,” Rose grumbled. “You expect me to go through all that again to make you a competent partner.”
“Face it, I was never that competent,” I said.
“What do you mean?” said Rose.
“I’ll never be as good a mage as you Rose. My strengths lie elsewhere. Goodbye and good luck.” I waved to them both and turned around to walk away.
‘So what’s the plan?’ Mai asked the moment I was out of earshot of Rose and Zelus.
“Deimos marred my honor. I’m simply returning the favor,” I replied darkly. An overblown smile filled my face as I exited the library and strutted down the street.
Chapter 26: Preparation
‘And just how exactly do you plan on doing that?’ Mai asked.
“Rose said Deimos is the heavy favorite for winning the Millenius next month. That he made it to the semi-finals last year and the quarterfinals the year before. Just think about how embarrassing it’d be to lose to a novice who has only studied magic for a few months. Can you think of a higher form of humiliation?” I said.
‘Do you really think you can beat him?’ said Mai. ‘I mean I know you technically qualify to compete but it’s not as though the last bout between you two turned out well.’
The only requirement for the Millenius tournament was that competitors be under 25, allowing mages, knights, and even archers to compete. Despite the appearance of fair and free competition, the victor was always a mage, their powers were just too potent in a straight one on one fight, and the competition served as a means for the magically inclined nobility to demonstrate their superiority over the masses.
“I know it seems impossible, but I wasn’t prepared,” I said. “With the right combination of artifacts, Deimos’ dominance will no longer be certain.”
‘Yes, artifacts can be powerful,’ Mai agreed. ‘But aren’t you forgetting something. The fatal weakness of all artifacts: interference magic.’
Interference magic was simply a set of mana surges broadcast by a mage. A skilled mage could modulate his own mana when he cast a spell so it would be unaffected, but artifacts didn’t have this flexibility and inevitably would fizzle out in the presence of interference magic.
“Yes, interference magic is a problem,” I said. “But I think I might have a way around that.”
‘What do you mean,’ Mai asked.
I explained to Mai my idea, a way to counter interference magic based on a device from Earth.
“So what do you think?” I asked.
‘That might just work,’ Mai admitted. ‘Where are we going now?’
Mai noticed I was no longer on the path back to the inn.
“I’d better get started right away. Six weeks isn’t much time to get ready,” I said.
I entered the artificer’s shop. An odd assemblage of items lined the shelves with little signs next to them describing what they did. There were all sorts of things from self-cleaning chamber pots to a little brown box that radiated coldness like a reverse space heater. Most of the items were uniq
ue, probably just an artificer’s experiment turned knickknack. Many were loaded with dust and spent an age there on the shelf before finding an owner with the perfect use in mind.
Except for the storekeeper, who was lazily tinkering with an artifact at a desk in the back, there was only one other person in the store. The other customer was a fully armored knight. When I first saw her from the corner of my eye, I thought she was a man. It wasn’t that she looked like a man, her thin delicate facial features and long golden hair attested to that, it was her stature. The woman looked to be in her mid-twenties and was easily six and a half feet tall. The contours of her heavy body armor implied exceptional curves, but its thickness prevented a definitive determination. The armor covered everything except her face while across her back was stowed the longest broadsword I’d ever seen. It was a good 6 inches longer than she was tall and if it hadn’t been hung at an angle, would have dragged across the ground. For some reason her face looked oddly familiar but I couldn’t figure why.
I looked for combat oriented artifacts and ended up near the giant woman-at-arms in front of a column of dust-free shelves. It made since. The warrior was looking for battle gear and they were relatively dust-free because the most popular artifacts were weapons. In a world full of dangerous monsters, it made sense for normal folks to want to level the playing field.
The warrior woman seemed experienced so I asked her, “Any recommendations?”
“Titania Nemo,” said the warrior woman offering me a hand. “Should know each other’s names first.”
‘Nemo? As in ‘no one.’ I wonder why she goes by that?’ said Mai.
“Isaac Stein,” I replied taking the warrior woman’s hand.
“What exactly do need? Something defensive to protect from all harm? Or something with a bit of a kick to hurt enemies?” she asked.
“A bit of both,” I answered. “As powerful as I can buy for a reasonable price.” My funds were limited and artifacts were notoriously expensive. They required a lot of time and effort from a specialized mage to make and labor from someone in a high position in society never came cheap.
“Won’t be able to find the really powerful artifacts in this store, or any other for that matter. Are reserved for the military,” Titania explained.
“Could you just give me an idea of what’s good here,” I said. “I’m not looking to take over the world.”
‘Yet,’ Mai added. ‘Maybe by the end.’
“For defense, recommend this all-purpose personal shield. It completely surrounds in a barrier that can help counter many types of magic. The only downside is that it consumes a lot of mana.” Titania stopped to point at a pile of disk shaped artifacts labeled: Spherical Mana Barrier (5-foot radius).
“As for offense,” Titania continued. “Would go for several different ones with a variety of elemental attributes. Hope opponent’s shield is weak against one.”
“Wow, somebody knows their stuff.”
“Had better. It is a warrior’s duty to know weapons,” she replied. “Why are suddenly picking up all these things? Know a war is coming but the army will supply gear.”
“I’m not in the army,” I explained. “I just need something to deal with mages when I enter the Millenius.”
“That’s not going to work,” Titania started. “Artifacts can’t-“
“Don’t worry,” I cut her off. “I know what I’m doing, mostly.”
“But artifacts won’t help against mages. Can prevent them from operating with a very simple spell. It’s very important understand this,” insisted Titania.
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured her waving her off.
I added a set of artificer tools and materials to the three combat artifacts I had selected. I needed the tools and materials to make what I needed to counter interference magic. As for the artifacts, one was the all-purpose personal shield Titania had recommended while the other two were different elemental offensive artifacts: a boom tube and a fire stick.
I was already familiar with the boom tube. It was standard issue for all city guards. When waved the boom tube sent a bolt of lightning out of one end. The exact strength varied depending on the mana crystal inside but it was primarily used to stun rather than kill. The fire stick was similar but rather than shooting electricity, it shot a wide plume of fire burning everything in its path.
I paid for the items, safely stowed them away in my inventory, and made my way to the exit. I would have gone back to the inn to begin my work immediately, but as I was leaving the store, a high pitch voice from down the street stopped me.
“Hello, hello, vat vas it…. Izaac. Izaac is dat you.”
I turned around when I heard my name. It was Albert, the flamboyantly gay German San Franciscan chef who’d bought many of my exotic plant specimens, in the hopes of making new and innovative culinary delights.
“Hi Albert,” I said waving back to him.
“Hello Izaac. It has been months has it not?” said Albert.
“Yes, months,” I agreed.
“Yet you haffe not been by mein resdaurant. I told you to come offer and try mein food. The ingredients you proffided haffe inspired many unique delicacies,” said Albert.
“I’ve been busy,” I said.
“Ahh, does dat mean you haffe zome more ingretients I may be interested in?” Albert asked hopefully.
“Sorry,” I answered. “I haven’t even left the city. I’ve been studying magic in the Repository.”
“Dey let you in,” said Albert shocked. “Many of the others vanted to sdudy dere, but dey veren’t alloved.”
“Others?” I asked.
“The other people from Earth,” explained Albert. “Many of dem came here, tried to get in the Academy but vere denied entry. Zomething about reffealing zecrets to foreigners.”
“I got a special exception. It’s a long story but I helped the country out with something and the Archlord rewarded me with access to the Academy’s library. I can’t take classes only read books,” I said.
“Still dat’s zomething the others vo vanted to learn magic vere vorced to pay for expenziffe priffate tudors or learn from discarded scraps, going through idems in esdate zales and pavn shops, hoping zome noble family dovn on deir luck zells zome book from one of deir mage ancesdors,” Albert said.
“Sounds harsh.”
“It vas. I vas lucky dat mein Earth skills translated zo vell here. Efferyone’s kot to eat.”
“Speaking of other Earthlings, how many of them are around? You’re the only one I’ve met,” I said.
“Not many are sdill here. Vord kot out about a community of us forming in the capital and most vent dere. Best to be around our ovn kind you knov dere doughts,” said Albert.
“Why didn’t you go?” I asked.
“I had mein resdaurant. It vas already doing vell and dat’s all I really need. You?” said Albert.
“Didn’t have a choice. I sort of got trapped by bad weather couldn’t move for months,” I explained.
Albert got a glint in his eye. “Vat are you doing nov?” he asked.
“Headed back the inn I’m staying at,” I replied.
“Kood,” he nodded while grabbing my arm and dragging me away.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I whined.
“Taking you to mein resdaurant. I haffe zomething for you to try,” he proclaimed.
“But-”
“No excuzes, you zaid you vere koing back to your room. You haffe the time to rest, you haffe the time to eat. Mein place is only ein couple blocks avay.”
Albert led me down a few crowded streets to his shop. I let him guide me but much to my distress, he refused to let go of my arm. It was a cozy little place set on a corner of a busy intersection. The place was empty and the lights were off. Albert tapped a mana lamp along one of the walls. It and the others in the room all clicked on.
“Is business okay?” I asked gesturing to indicate my awareness that the place was empty.
“Buziness fe
ry kood,” Albert replied. “Today is mein day off. I cloze one day ein veek.”
“I really vould take more time off,” Albert continued. “But it’s hard time finding zomeone to take offer for me and I refuze to zerffe zubstandard fare. Now take ein seat and giffe me ein second I’ll be back.”
Albert walked through a door in the back, presumably leading to the kitchen. He was back less than a minute later with a plate of food and a set of utensils.
“Thanks for the leftovers,” I chirped, much to Albert’s dismay.
“Lefdoffers,” he barked. “You dink I zerffe lefdoffers. Lefdoffers.” I think he was having second thoughts about serving me so I tried to explain.
“How else could you prepare something this fast?” I asked.
“I already prepared,” he grumbled. “I chust vent to get ein plate. I stored it in mein inffendory zo it’s as fresh as the moment I made it. It is not lefdoffers.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I forgot you could do that. It’s been so long I forgot there were other Earthlings,” I explained.
“It’s alright,” Albert sighed. “I chust haffe dislike of lefdoffers. Food should be eaden ven it’s made. Vaiding chust ruins it. And don’t get me started on reheating.”
He handed me the plate. A large helping of linguini lathered in a creamy white sauce covered one side while the other side had a long plump sausage. The rich aroma of the sauce filled my nostrils making my mouth water.
“Erthwak Bierwursht and linguini in vite fodka and floroantimonic lemon zauce,” announced Albert.
“You actually found a way to use those lemons,” I said shocked. I’d used them to eat through a metal wall.
“Of courze,” Albert replied. “I find ein vay to eat all of nadure’s creazions.”
“You know you’ve become a German stereotype,” I said pointing to the bierwurst.
“Vo cares about stereodypes, I am chust being me. Now eat mein zauzage,” said Albert enthusiastically.
I tried it and sure enough it was delicious. The sauce was the perfect addition to the meat, enhancing its natural juiciness to the point where I couldn’t help but smile.
Arrival Page 28