Ends of Magic

Chapter 15: Puzzles of Magic

There were a few moments of awkward silence, as the guy whod opened the gate shifted from foot to foot. They were waiting for his compatriot to return with somebody who could tell the Heirs what was going on.

He seemed to want to ask a question, but held back. He looked from Aarl to Stella, before his eyes landed on Nathan and he relaxed and opened his mouth. Hows it be, goin wit da Heirs?

Sarah chuckled as Nathan was once again reminded that he didnt fit in with his teammates. They were known as the children of some of the most powerful people in Gemore, and all were bedecked in enchanted armor and weapons to look the part. He wore cheap clothes, simple shoes and carried very few possessions. Hed gotten in the habit of leaving his spear in Aarls dimensional bag, and bore no weapons. With defined muscles and not much else, Nathan looked like he could be a laborer.

He smiled back. Its a good time. Ive seen some pretty incredible things, traveling with them. Theyre good in a fight, too.

Uh. The other man blinked, formulating his words. Hows it happenin? You travellin wit dem?

Nathan was saved from having to find a polite response by the return of the girl whod run off. The growing crowd split respectfully before her, and it wasnt until they had entirely moved out of the way that Nathan saw they werent moving for her. They were getting out of the way of a small woman who must have been the widest Knuld Nathan had ever seen.

Her skin was a pale orange, like clouds barely tinted with a red sunset. Her clothes were rich brown, falling in layers from a tasseled hood that framed a face stuck in a permanent disappointed frown. She was shorter than the average Knuld, standing barely three feet tall, but making up for it in width. Her hand grasped a gnarled wooden staff that seemed so old it might have been fossilized.

The girl tried haltingly to introduce her, but the Knuld woman spoke quickly and loudly over her. I be Qinven. Youd be da Adventurers I sent fer. She looked them over, then snorted. Good ta get da value from ta food we send em. Youll do. Getcha waitin for da next attack.

The Heirs were a bit blindsided by the verbal assault, but Khachi once again proved his equanimity and role as the partys voice. We shall be ready for the next occurrence. Can you tell us of them?

The Knuld woman - Qinven - pursed her lips, then nodded. She tapped the staff against the ground and sat on the delicate chair that had sprouted to receive her. Stools appeared behind each of the Heirs, and Qinven gestured for them to sit. She looked around at all of the onlookers. All got aught to do? Getcha to it!

The crowd scattered, though some stayed to spectate.

Qinven turned back to the Heirs, who were gingerly taking their seats on the stools. Nathan poked his, and it started blackening and disintegrating from his touch. He sat on the ground.

Wood mana. Cool.

The guy whod asked Nathan what he was doing with the Heirs looked between Nathan and the disintegrating stool, mouth hanging open.

Qinven gave him an exasperated glance, before dismissing it and explaining what was going on in Farfield that needed their attention. It didnt seem like there were many more details that hadnt made it into the previous report. Weird colors, keening sounds and randomly moving objects marked the events, and anybody too close was dragged inside and vanished. Clearly magic was at work, but beyond that the hints were few and far between.

Qinven had tried breaking the illusion of scintillating color with her own light magic, as well as growing trees into the middle of the disturbance. Her spell had been torn apart by hostile magic. Shed volleyed wooden spikes at it to much the same effect. There was usually one each day, sometime in the mid-morning. The events had started farther out and were slowly moving closer to town. If the pattern held, the next one should be only a few hundred feet out of town.

The next steps seemed clear - the Heirs would be ready the next morning to go after the event next time it happened. Qinven would have somebody in the watchtower who would ring a bell and point in the direction of the anomaly. All the Heirs had to do was follow a pointing finger.

They didnt discuss specifics with others watching, just nodded and agreed with Qinvens strongly suggested plan of burning it to a crisp.

Later that evening, they talked about the plan in quiet voices. Plan A was still the Flying Nathan Special, while other contingencies depended on what happened after that. If Nathan couldnt deal with the problem they could back up and let Stella and Sarah barrage from afar, or close the distance to allow Khachi and Aarl to deliver firepower from close range. Or both!

The problem was that they didnt know much, and only had second-hand accounts to go off. Nathan and Stella both had abilities to discern details of hostile magic, and they planned to try to evaluate what was going on as quickly as they could. But there was only so much they could do with what they had.

As Aarl summed it up, the plan was, Well give the waking Giant a look, then probably throw Nathan at the problem. It doesnt grab people who are too far away, but it can move towards them. Well need to react quick and think quicker.

Nathan agreed. Thats the goal. Learning how to react properly to unanticipated events. Another nugget of wisdom from The Art of War - When all else fails, retreat. We need to be ready to admit that this is beyond us, if it is. We can retreat, evacuate the town and protect the villagers while we call in heavier firepower. Thats always a contingency to keep in mind.

The Heirs nodded solemnly, and they spent some more time discussing other potential plans before retiring for the evening. Nathan found himself calmer than the previous day. Jitters had given way to confidence, and meditation only made him feel more certain that theyd be able to handle whatever happened tomorrow.

Breakfast was a sedate affair of vegetable soup. It was rather heavily spiced, but the Heirs drank it down all the same, poised to leap into action should the alarm sound.

But nothing happened. The Heirs camped out underneath the watchtower, sitting around and talking about small things. They still had a sparse audience for much of the day, with various kids and farmers loitering around. They werent necessarily there to watch the Heirs, but more because they expected action and didnt want to miss it.

A few hours later, right before Nathan was about to suggest lunch, the bell started ringing. Nathan looked up and shaded his eyes against the sun. The hunter in the tower was pointing directly towards the front gate. Right beyond the gates!

The delay didnt slow the Heirs reactions, and they took off towards the front gates. Beyond the walls they could hear a cacophonous wailing, like the sound of a dozen bagpipers walking across hot coals. The gates were closed, but it was the work of a moment for Nathan to throw aside the bar and yank both panels of wood aside.

He led the way out of town, and the magic was immediately obvious. An oblong bubble of pearlescent light rested on the ground about two hundred feet away, with waves of color rippling through it from various points. Rocks and fence posts hovered in the air around it, orbiting with an eerie smoothness and occasionally jerking to new locations.

Nathan blinked at the image before him. It was just so magic. Like what hed describe if somebody asked him to imagine a weird magic anomaly. And looking closer - nothing was coordinated. The colors didnt correspond to the sound, and the orbiting objects didnt move on their own. Nathan focused past the illusion, and his unease grew. As far as he could tell, there was nothing there except magic.

Nathan, Stella? Commentary? Khachi was keeping the Heirs grouped up, ready to run back to the gates if anything especially weird should happen.

Stella sounded intimidated. Theres light, dream, darkness, gravity, force and sound mana in there. Its like a half-dozen different spells in the same space.

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Nathan looked around for more details. The thing in front of him felt like a distraction. An obvious one whose purpose was to draw attention away from something else.

Mid-tier Identify 8 achieved!

Yup. Distraction. Time to look for the thing it's supposed to be distracting from.

His eyes landed on a faint patch of hazy air occupying an innocuous gap between crops. It was about a hundred feet to the side of a direct path between the Heirs and the magical anomaly that was clearly supposed to occupy their attention.

Mid-tier Notice 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this utility skill! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight into this skill to develop it to high-tier.

That looks like an invisibility spell. A good one, too.

He turned back and fixed the rest of the Heirs with an intent gaze, signaling for their attention and keeping his voice low. Something invisible at 10 o clock, between the vegetable patches. Lets pretend we dont see it and head towards the anomaly, circling towards it a bit. Ill lead, and when we get close Ill stomp my left foot and charge to start the attack.

He got a series of firm nods. Theyd expected something like this. Only a few seconds had passed when Nathan turned around again. The scintillating orb of color had grown a little brighter and a little larger, as if displeased hed turned his back on it, however momentarily.

Nathan kept his eyes and body language fixed on what he was convinced was a distraction as the Heirs cautiously moved forward. He left the path and stalked through the low vegetable patches, acting like he was trying to hide from the orb and circle closer to it.

He broke free of the garden and stood in the clear space between patches for a moment. The magical bubble of light and sound was still some distance in front of him, but just forty feet to his left was the bubble of invisibility. Nathan waited a second for the rest of the Heirs to file out of the rows of vegetables. Then he stomped his left foot and spun to charge.

The Heirs spun with him, and Stellas hands sparked with electricity. Sarahs guns came up, waiting for a target. Aarl was beside Nathan, and Khachi just a step behind.

A command snapped out as the Heirs refocused. Now! Multiple voices spoke their spells aloud, in a style of spellcasting Nathan hadnt heard since hed fought Enslavement mages of Giantsrest.

[Mass Daze]

[Sleeping Fog]

[Wind Gust]

[Aimed Force Launch]

A dozen needles flew towards Nathan as Stellas lightning struck the haze in the air. The invisibility spell failed, revealing mages in the colored robes of Giantsrest. The lightning spell danced along the edge of an invisible bubble of force, failing to reach the mages within.

Nathan didnt have time to parse anything more as the wave of enchanted needles struck. Eight pierced skin all across his body. Numbness began to spread from those points, and Nathan made it three more steps before he stumbled and fell to the ground. The impact snapped some of the needles, but the rest were driven deeper into his body to deliver more poison even as their enchantments failed.

Aarl stumbled next to Nathan, shaking his head to clear it of the daze and ripping out a needle that had sunk into the inside of his elbow. Khachi raised his shield and halted his advance, quickly reevaluating the situation.

[Dominate]

[Mass Daze]

[Chains of Restraint]

[Paralysis]

More spells were flying from Giantsrest. Khachi snarled, his voice vicious. Petty Magics shall not stand before my [Unwavering Zeal]! By Deimans grace, we will weather your attacks! Feel my scorn! Golden magic flared from Khachis eyes and extended sideways from his shield. It covered Stella and Sarah just before magical chains clattered off the protective barrier. Divine light shone from Khachis eyes and his armor, and Nathan saw the [Dominate] fizzle out as the Giantsrest mages shielded their eyes from the holy glare.

But a thin [Sleeping fog] was blowing in their direction. Stella cast a wind spell of her own, sending a powerful but ragged gust to scatter the spell. Nathan heard Sarahs pistols fire a few times, but the bullets deflected from the invisible dome of force covering the Giantsrest mages.

Nathan battled against his Rage, his desire to help his friends. But rationally he knew that his muscles were frozen by the paralytic poison. Greater strength wouldnt help when the muscles themselves werent functioning. He very intentionally did not panic, thinking of solutions. He tried scouring magic from his body, but the poison wasnt magic. It also hadnt killed any cells, so Nathan couldnt [Regenerate] through it. He flicked his eyes over to Aarl, who was on one knee. His mental protection skills had helped him shake off the double daze, but the paralytic poison was taking effect and only one arm and one leg were functional.

Through gritted teeth, Nathan forced out speech. His tongue was numb, and the words were slurred. Cut. Off. My. Arm.

Aarls eyes narrowed, then his face grew intent. He leapt over Nathan to avoid more [Chains of Restraint] and his one good arm flickered to his pouch. The [Master of Melee] put all of his weight behind a downwards blow from his favored enchanted greatsword. The blow sliced cleanly through Nathans arm, right next to the shoulder. The swords enchantment flickered, but Nathan felt his [Regeneration] start to work.

Then Aarl was blown backwards by a spray of conjured earth, and the battle ramped up in intensity around Nathan. Stella was casting spells like a woman possessed. Walls of blue force blocked projectiles, wind held more fog at bay and directed beams of light blinded the mages ahead. Khachis shield was triple its usual size, and the [Martial Cleric of Deiman] dragged Aarl behind its golden cover with one hand.

But Nathan ignored all of that. He focused his entire mind on his missing arm. It was regrowing automatically, but Nathan seized control of the process. He wasnt just guiding cells to divide and replace lost tissue, he was mastering the process, emphasizing metabolic pathways to speed up the production of necessary proteins and lipids to replace the lost tissue.

High-tier Regeneration 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this Talent! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight into this Talent to develop it to the next level. As it is high-tier, the kind of insight will greatly affect how it develops.

There was a doubled crash of lightning that overwhelmed all other noises in the battle, followed by a moment of silence. Nathan heard a familiar voice speak overhead, low and bitter. You teach her the Insights of your world? Gifting the Insights of Earth to a mongrel of Gemore? Nathan, you disgust me. [Dominate] the mage.

Taeols voice almost carried Nathan away in a flash of Rage.

He views my knowledge as his property, and will go after the Heirs because I told them of Earth. I am going to rip that mans head off and see how far I can kick it.

With immense effort, Nathan dragged his attention back to his body, and the Insight he was feeding it. He didnt judge himself for almost losing focus, didnt think about how much he wanted Taoels blood on his hands, but smoothly guided himself away from extraneous thought. He just focused on his healing, his Talent. He had stamina, it was time to use it to achieve something amazing. Something hed dreamed about since Earth.

Stamina: 607/770

High-tier Focused Mind 10 achieved! Congratulations, you have maxed out this utility skill! It cannot be improved any further. You must achieve Insight into this skill to develop it to the next level. As it is High-Tier, the kind of insight will greatly affect how it develops.

Nathan broadened his attention to his entire body, opening his mind to the Insight hed spent weeks preparing and storing in his [Enhanced Memory]. Nathan knew textbooks of information about the most subtle workings of his body. He knew things that had been discovered too recently to be in the textbooks. He knew the dozen causes of aging. Nathans biochemistry was his own, and he would master it.

His mind flashed through his body, directing the production of cytochrome p450s in the bloodstream and muscles to neutralize the poison, and accelerating the calcification of the bones in his new arm. He also paid attention to the regrowing muscles, directing growth of aligned muscle fibers. His focus went deeper, to the organization of the myofibrils. He wanted them packed in, densely organized. He took every intention, every improvement hed thought of that could be made to his own biology and fed stamina to all of it.

Stamina: 240/770

Congratulations, you have developed the [High-tier Regeneration] Talent into [Perfected Body].

Permanent Talent: [Perfected Body]

You have achieved precise control of your body at a miniscule level. This Talent will automatically spend stamina to efficiently and immediately heal wounds. You can spend Stamina to make innate changes which include banishing poison, countering aging and optimizing your body on a miniscule level. Larger wounds, and greater changes will cost more stamina. Perfected Body will not prevent you from dying of grievous wounds.

Nathan rolled over as the poison was gone in an instant. His arm finished regrowing and the needles fell from his wounds. He spared a glance at the Heirs. Khachis golden shield was battered, cracks spreading through the divine mana. A whip of shadow tried to strike past the shield, but a blue-tinted bubble of force materialized around the Heirs, covering them from the attack.

Then Nathan heard Taeol cast a familiar spell.

[Disintegrate]

The beam of pale green light popped Stellas force spells like soap bubbles. It impacted Khachis shield and warred with the glowing golden light for a moment before punching through that as well. Khachi tossed aside the disintegrating chunk of metal, shaking his arm as his metal gauntlet also fell to dust. Golden light played up his arm, fighting off the diminished effect of the [Disintegrate].

This time, Nathan didnt try to restrain his Rage. He leapt to his feet and immediately charged the Giantsrest mages. There were five of them. Two in green robes, two in purple and Taeol standing in the back in orange. The blood drained from his fleshy face as Nathan charged.

Stamina: 69/770

The purple robes blinked dumbly for a moment as he closed the distance. The green robes were more disciplined, one hurling balls of conjured stone while the other hit Nathan with a [Paralysis].

Nathan bulled through the spells, building up momentum. He crashed through the clear Giantsrest shield without slowing. He ignored the other mages, heading directly towards Taoel. It was time to fix the mistake hed made last time. But once again, Taoels lips moved more quickly than Nathan could reach him.

[Mass Blink]

The mages vanished, reappearing with a loud pop a few hundred feet away on the other side of the Heirs. Nathan pivoted and accelerated quickly, sprinting towards his friends and the slippery foes beyond.

Mid-tier Sprinting 7 achieved!

The mages were establishing their position, preparing to re-engage. Nathan saw more needles levitating out of a bag of holding, and the two green-robes were channeling some kind of spell into the ground. Taeol aimed another [Disintegrate] at Khachi as the Wolfman knelt over Aarl, looking around and favoring his arm.

Nathan dove in front of his friend, taking the beam of sickly light in the face. He resisted the spell, breaking it down to its component parts. [Disintegrate] was a tightly woven braid of void, shadow and force mana that sought to tear apart molecular bonds. Flakes of skin peeled off his face and were quickly replaced by [Perfected Body]. Nathans stamina ticked up a hundred points.

Magic Absorption 8 achieved!

That certainly felt better than the last time I got hit by one of those. Hes definitely not trying to capture us anymore. At least not Khachi.

Nathan got to his feet and was just about to resume his headlong dash towards the hated foe. His Rage was pushing him to keep running, to not spare a moment until Taeols brain matter decorated his fists. But - if he attacked without thinking, that put the Heirs in danger. He looked around at them.

Stella was wiping blood from her nose as smoke rose from an amulet around her neck. Sarah was shaking her head to clear it of the barrage of mental spells that would have left a normal person catatonic. Aarl was getting to his feet, having been just healed by Khachi, whose face was a grimace of pain as his arm smoked and bled.

Nathan felt a surge of concern for his friends. He slowed his run, focusing on that feeling and pitting it against the Rage that was pushing him onwards without a care in the world. Nathan remembered a meditation technique called loving kindness and focused on his benevolent desire that the Heirs live and thrive. The Benevolence warred with Rage for a moment, for how could such a calm emotion coexist with the all-consuming desire to rip and tear?

Then Nathan felt clarity. They could coexist - his Rage empowered him, but it also blunted his reason. If he held his desire to protect what was dear in mind, it channeled his Rage, focused it on those who would harm his friends without cutting its blazing intensity. Nathans flash of Insight showed the path to transform his Rage from a ballistic artillery shell to a precision-guided weapon.

Congratulations, you have developed the [High-tier Focused Mind] skill into [Battle Meditation].

Utility skill: [Battle Meditation]

This skill will allow you to remain focused and undistracted in the harshest of conditions.

With his newfound focus, Nathan thought quickly and spoke to the Heirs even quicker. Im going for the Archmage. Aarl around the side, hide in the tall crops, ambush if they move. Sarah, snipe the green robes, Taeol's got a hell of a [Mage Armor]. Stella, keep their heads down. Khachi, cover them. Nobody die.

High-tier Earnestness 5 achieved!

Sparks jumped from Stellas eyes in response. Sarah snarled assent as she loaded an enchanted round into her rifle. Aarl saluted with his blades, while Khachi bared his canines.

Status changes:

Permanent Talent: High-tier Regeneration

This Talent will automatically spend stamina to very rapidly heal wounds. Larger wounds and replacing greater amounts of missing flesh will take longer and cost more stamina. Regeneration will not prevent you from dying of grievous wounds, and will not protect against poison.

Permanent Talent: Perfected Body

You have achieved precise control of your body at a miniscule level. This Talent will automatically spend stamina to efficiently and immediately heal wounds. You can spend Stamina to make innate changes which include banishing poison, countering aging and restructuring your body on a miniscule level. Larger wounds, and greater changes will cost more stamina. Perfected Body will not prevent you from dying of grievous wounds.

Utility skill: High-tier Focused Mind

This skill will help you attain a focused and undistracted state under most conditions. Cannot be maintained under stress.

Utility skill: Battle Meditation

This skill will allow you to remain focused and undistracted even in the harshest of conditions.

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Magic Absorption 8

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 1

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 4

Class: Spellbreaker Juggernaut level 67

Stamina: 201/770

Juggernaut's Wrath

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Juggernaut's Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 1

High-tier Earnestness 5

Mid-tier Sprinting 7

High-tier Spellsense 4

Mid-tier Notice 10

Mid-tier Identify 8

Mid-tier Dodging Footwork 6

High-tier Enhanced Memory 5

Mid-tier Lecturing 5

Mid-tier Tumbling 3