Chapter: 290 - Until Next Time (Patreon)

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Tala took a careful bite of an apple slice. “Since we’re vaguely on the subject, what even is the Doman-Imithe?”

Master Xeel gave an exhausted smile, but Tala thought she was learning his expressions enough to know that it was to do with the frustrating nature of the subject, rather than with her. “Simple answer? It’s a conceptual backing to reality. A place where all the messy folds, cracks, and contradictions were secreted away in an attempt to keep Zeme habitable.”

Tala blinked a few times. “That actually makes a lot of sense.”

“Most simple answers do. They are also notoriously inaccurate under extreme scrutiny, but it suffices for most purposes.”

She grunted at that.

“I did enjoy the memories from your journey through that place. I’ve not seen it with my own eyes, and I found your short trip educational.”

“I’m glad to have been of help?” She wasn’t quite certain how she really felt about so many people seeing her memories.

That caravan really has left the city, though. No going back, now.

-It’s also better than the alternatives.-

Yeah, I would hate to have to try to narrate everything.

Master Xeel nodded happily. “Oh, your memories definitely were helpful. It would be better to go to the Doman-Imithe myself, but time being what it is, I doubt I’ll manage for another century or so.”

“So, soon enough, then,” Tala joked.

“Indeed.” He smiled, but he also seemed entirely genuine.

She coughed and changed the subject, “So, world fragments.”

“Oh, that’s right, you went to Croi.”

“So, humanity knows of that world fragment’s existence?”

“Yeah. It’s changed hands a couple of times, but less frequently than you might guess. The arcanes are rather proud of their possession of it. And to clarify, it’s not ‘that’ world fragment, but the world fragment. I don’t believe there’s another.” He hesitated. “You know, they might not know it’s the only one?” He shrugged, then. “We’ve hunted extensively, but they have one, so we’ve researched different things.”

“Why aren’t we helping to expand it? To repair the world that was before?”

He shrugged. “Paradise under tyranny is no paradise at all, and a paradise won with an ocean of blood might be even worse.”

She sat back, and suddenly felt tears building in her eyes. What? Why am I…

But she knew. She had spilled an ocean of blood to win free, but she knew he was right.

-Tala.-

No, Alat. Not now.

Master Xeel seemed to be nodding to himself. “I see you took something from my words that I didn’t say.”

“What does that mean?” she snapped back.

“What I said was that to go and take paradise from others so that we can have it, at the expense of blood, is no way to live. To fight free of enslavement, doing what it takes to win free? That is what it takes to survive. To do anything else is to subject yourself to the whims of others, and that is no life.”

Tala wiped at her eyes.

“Do not seek conflict, but when conflict comes—and it will come—make sure you are the victor.”

She barked an almost desperate laugh. “It’s that simple?”

“It is.” He smiled. “Why do you think the arcanes didn’t renew their war against us?”

Tala shrugged. “Too difficult? Nothing to gain? Too much else to do?”

He smiled at that. “Those are part of it, sure. But the reason that they haven’t banded together and taken us for the benefit that our captivity would offer, is because we never threaten them, and when they do slight us? We always pay it back in blood ten-fold.” His smile turned vicious. “If you hadn’t exacted such a price in your own time among them, we would be planning a reckoning ourselves, for what they did to you.”

Tala didn’t really know how to respond to that.

“As it stands now, us mounting a retaliatory strike would be overkill, not to mention that it would confirm your survival. That might not be the worst thing, but I don’t think you need any more drama or danger for the present.”

She huffed a mirthless chuckle at that.

“By and large, we have made it more profitable for them to kill their own people than to let those people attack us. That results in fewer deaths and less destruction all around.”

Still, he didn’t look happy.

“It might have been a bit too long since their last lesson, though. Their more powerful have long memories, but they still forget. I expect that we’ll need to remind them once again in the coming centuries. It would be irritating if it lined up too closely with the Leshkin, but it will be as it will be.”

She grunted, deciding to ignore the Leshkin wars tangent for now. “That sounds too simple; keeping the arcanes at bay, I mean.”

Master Xeel seemed to come back from his bloody ruminations. “Oh, undoubtedly. It’s an oversimplification, but that doesn’t make the sentiment untrue.”

“But world fragments. You said that’s the only one there is. How can that be? Why can’t we find one? Or make one?”

He laughed out loud at that. “Oh, we’re looking, but they are among the rarest things in existence.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, imagine placing an earthenware pot on a shelf.”

“Sure.” She didn’t really know where he was going with this, but he was being a fount of information at the moment, so she was paying rapt attention.

“Then, imagine smashing it with a mace.”

“Okay.” That was a bit of an uncomfortable way to envision what happened to their planet, but that wasn’t the topic at the moment.

“Next, you would hire some people to come in and make something with the pieces. They just know it has to hold water, and these people can’t have a good understanding of what was there before.”

“Alright.” She was starting to get an idea of what he was getting at, and it made Zeme’s situation seem even worse than she had realized.

“Now, once they’re done, place what they created where the original was. Then, imagine looking closely and carefully at the end result. Your goal is to find a piece of the pot that is exactly where it was before you smashed it, and before the shelf was picked clean by those you hired to help.”

“Oh… Huh. I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

“Exactly. It’s a statistical miracle that even a single world-fragment exists. By all rights, it shouldn’t. If it’s found, it can be linked to anywhere, but that’s a whole different thing.”

“So, we’re not going to find one. Is that what you’re saying?”

“It’s basically impossible, but not actually impossible. There are ways, in theory, to create one, but it’s beyond the easy actions of even a Sovereign. Also, as might be noted, a reality beast would want to create and grow such a fragment. It would be the culmination of their entire existence, but even those who could bite a Sovereign in half, haven’t. What that seems to indicate, is that doing so is likely beyond them as well. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever achieve it, but it does mean that it’s not a question of raw power.”

“Alright, then.” Tala was feeling a bit overloaded with the theoretical nature of the topics, so she picked something a bit more grounded. “So, what can you tell me about City Lords?”

“They are a diverse group, with a common—but still individual—goal. Each is incredibly powerful within their cities, but they generally won’t leave because they are seeking bound advancement. The Sovereign of the forest is a great example of one who has followed this path. They basically turn themselves into a magical beast whose power is virtually unrivaled within their domain.”

That is… incredibly enlightening, actually. So, these arcanes set up in cities, and that’s why they don’t leave? This is what they get out of overseeing the city?

-Yeah, but imagine if they succeed, then people leave. That would be pretty awful.-

Yeah. Without people in the city, you’re left with a lot of power over a relatively small piece of land. Imagine having phenomenal cosmic powers with an itty-bitty living space. She shook her head. “And that’s the end of arcane advancement, the goal, their path to being a Sovereign?”

“I’m not an expert in that field, but that is an end, yes.”

She frowned, then. “What about Master Jevin? Doesn’t he have something similar to that in Makinaven?”

Master Xeel nodded sagely. “Now, Master Jevin is an interesting case. He doesn’t actually have power over an area, not really. He has sway over his own body, and because of his oddities, the entire tree is considered him.”

“Oversimplification?”

“Oh, yes. Master Jevin has spent millennia studying his own condition, and there is no way I could summarize it accurately in a single sentence. That was—indisputably—an oversimplification, but again, it gets the idea across.”

Tala grunted at that. “I can see that. I have a few quicker questions, at least theoretically.”

“Go for it.”

“Gate-breaking.”

“Not a question.”

She huffed a laugh. “Did we know about gate-breaking? Why wasn’t it used on me?”

“The method you encountered is interesting, and might be effective for some Mages, but the concept as a whole isn’t new or novel.”

“Couldn’t we use it on mundanes, allowing them to use magical items more easily? We could change our whole society with more power at our disposal.”

“Technically, yes, but that would make the maintenance of cities much harder and the degradation faster. It isn’t really necessary for Mages, in general. You are an odd case in just how magically dense you are, and how high your throughput is for your advancement. Such things matter less as you advance, but many don’t advance.” He shrugged. “Honestly, those it would help most would never do it willingly.”

“That’s fair, I suppose.” Tala hesitated, here, but finally just asked. “Our society is designed to keep gated humans alive, isn’t it?”

Master Xeel nodded, looking a bit sad. “Yes. You saw the moving cities in the plains. Even that is a concession to their gated citizens. Gates are our strength and our greatest detriment. In the past, Archons have considered culling the gated population, leaving only lineages that have proven able to produce Mages consistently, but that is always shouted down for hopefully obvious reasons.”

Tala blanched, but she wasn’t really surprised that the idea had been considered.

I’m just glad it’s never been acted on.

She decided to move on, “Did we know that some arcanes can use animal spies?”

“Yes and no. That is a specialization that has come and gone through the centuries. We didn’t know that one or more of the major Houses had picked up the practice again. That said, those spies would trigger city defenses, so it’s only an issue for those out and about. The warning has been passed through the proper channels.”

“So, speaking of that. They have innate giftings for magic.”

“Of course. So do you, though it manifests differently.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, since their magic is conceptually based, it is easier to implement, at least at the basic levels. They also tend to have natural magics that are bent towards their conceptual base. We humans have certain areas of reality that we understand and grasp the nuances of better. That is our gifting for magic. We are generally much more precise and dexterous with our power, even if it does take longer for us to hone it into usefulness.” He hesitated. “Well, that’s not true. Arcanes often don’t reach maturity until their thirties or forties, so Mages might actually be able to use basic magic earlier? But it depends on the specific species.”

Tala grunted at that. She’d never delved deeply into the lifecycles of the various arcane races. Honestly, she didn’t much care. I might in a few centuries, but not now. “Alright, I suppose I can understand that.”

It was starting to get late, moving towards noon.

“Just two more topics.”

He nodded. “And we can meet up again, as I assume you have a lot you’ll want more… practical guidance in, once you Refine.”

“Thank you for the offer. Yes, I think I might take you up on that.”

Master Xeel smiled. “Of course. Your next question?”

“They have a lot of amazing travel options. I know why we can’t use them for most of our population, but the gateless could use them, and there have to be some derivations that we could use.”

“Ahh, which were you exposed to? I admit that I only processed some of your memories. Did you get to experience the Croi compression lanes?”

“They called them quick-ways, and yes.”

“Ahh, quick-ways? That’s a rather clever name. It fits too.”

“Other than that, I was placed into a dimensional space anchored to a ballista bolt and fired towards a nearby city, and I stepped through something like a longer range quick-way.”

“Ahh, yes. I’ve not seen the first myself, but the theory has been put forward for cargo transport. It might work, but it would be expensive. We’ve not forbidden it, and several groups have tried variations over the centuries. They could never make it financially viable.” He shrugged. “Why force a technology that is less effective for whatever reason? As to long-range compression, that puts a direct strain on reality unlike almost anything else. That, too, would be a rare use-case means of travel, and we have better alternatives for that. Our teleportation network is almost as fast, even if it does require reinscription at the other end. With Mistress Holly’s newest invention, once it’s perfected? That will be hardly an inconvenience at all. Still expensive, though.”

“So, we have better methods of travel than caravans, but we don’t use them?”

He laughed. “Better by what metric? Speed? Sure. There are many faster ways to travel from city to city. Safety for the passengers? Absolutely. Safety for the cities on either end? No. Cost per pound of cargo? Not really. Caravans are cheap, and the cargo and passengers they move aren’t time critical.”

Tala supposed she could understand that.

“You had one last topic for this morning?”

“Void-magic.”

He quirked a smile at that. “I assumed we’d get to that, after you started with a question about reality beasts. I’m glad that I didn’t have to bring it up myself. What do you want to know?”

“What’s the danger?”

“The same as with any magic, really. You can poison yourself with it, or destroy yourself if you wield it poorly.” He shrugged again, waving and taking away their trays.

Tala had her last sausage in hand, so she didn’t lose out on any food. “Yes, but fire can burn me. What does void do?”

“It breaks down that which it encounters and consumes to fill itself. That is a natural void, of course. Natural fire is usually just an exothermic oxidation process, while magical fire can be much more destructive. Similarly, when compared to a natural void, void-magic is a bit more… hungry?”—he frowned, seeming to consider—"Ravenous, that’s the word. Void-magic is ravenous, and more than that, it tends to incorporate what it consumes.”

Tala tried to keep a straight face when he used ‘ravenous’ as a descriptor. It’s a common enough word. It doesn’t mean anything about me, specifically.

-Yeah, just keep telling yourself that.-

Hush, you. “What do you mean?”

“If you could throw a ball of void-magic, and you hit a fire, the void would eat the fire, expanding outward and burning away much that was around the fire. If it hit a block of ice, it would shatter the surroundings, and you would find much less powdered remains than you’d think there should be. This is obviously, once again, an oversimplification fraught with holes, but you get the idea.”

“So, it takes what it consumes and uses it to consume more?”

“It’s more that the void is flavored by what enters it? At least for a time. Void items tend to gain and lose tints to their magic over the centuries. Not that we’ve had that many to study, of course.”

“Have you ever seen a void item eat a fount?”

He nodded. “Yes. That is one of the simplest ways to remove a harmful or dangerous fount. Importantly, through extensive research, we’ve found that the fount does still go to the world beyond, just as it does through other methods of removal. So, void-magics are the preferred method for fount destruction.”

So, Flow wasn’t unique in that then.

-We assumed as much.-

Yeah, but it’s good to have it confirmed.

“I am aware that you have… subsumed aspects of void-magic into yourself and your soulbound weapon. I am happy to assist with that as well, but not today.” He slapped his hands down on his own knees and pushed himself to his feet. “Thank you for the engaging dialogue.”

“I mean, I just asked you questions, but you’re welcome, I suppose?”

He smiled. “I rarely get to ramble on about such a wide selection of intriguing topics. I know you wanted to discuss reality nodes, and I appreciate that you respected my wish to wait until after your Refining.”

She made a sour face, but just for a moment. He’d insisted on that when he and Alat had agreed to the meeting. “It’s understandable. I’m a bit… fragile at the moment, and I feel like truly working with my own piece of reality wouldn’t be wise while that is the case.”

“And in that, you show wisdom.”

He turned and looked out the broad windows.

“You really do have a lovely place here. The method of acquisition was unideal, but I am glad that you have it.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I feel quite blessed to have it.”

Master Xeel turned to her and bowed. “Good day, Mistress Tala.”

She bowed in return. “Good day, Master Xeel.”

With a thought, she called the door into the space right beside him, and he smiled as he departed. “Until next time.”

Kit’s door clicked shut behind him and vanished.

“Thank you, Kit.”

The sanctum did not respond.

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