As his control over Transcendent arcana grew, Nym became more comfortable with using it to do actual magic. In many ways, it reminded him of the early days when he was still exploring first and second circle mortal magic. It wasn’t the spells themselves, of course. Those were hideously complex compared to anything he’d cast back when his existence had been limited to a single body in the core reality. But the feeling of always discovering something new, that there was more just around the corner, that was alive again in him.
Hozim was a great help at first, but eventually he started running out of tasks for Nym. “I’m sorry,” he said during one of their meetings, “But you just don’t have the anchor spread to do anything else on my agenda.”
“I understand,” Nym said. “Time for me to venture out into the world and do things on my own.”
“I didn’t say I couldn’t still help you,” Hozim protested. “You’d just have to owe me a favor at a later date.”
“What kind of favor are you talking about?” Nym asked warily.
“The same kinds of things you do for me now. I just don’t know what those favors would be yet.”
“That doesn’t sound too terrible. You do seem to have a lot of little things.”
“Oh, most of those aren’t for me,” Hozim explained with a laugh. “Almost everything I’ve had you do has been on behalf of other ascendants that I owed favors to. Thanks to you, I’ve caught up an enormous amount of debt I owed to several dozen other people. If you’d like, I could introduce you to some of them and you can try to strike up some deals directly. It’s entirely possible they owe favors that you could solve as well.”
Nym wasn’t sure how exactly that helped him ‘stay out of the politics of it all’ like Baracia wanted, but he trusted her to be more invested in that than he was. “I’ll consider it,” he said. “In the meantime, there is one more spell I’d like to learn.”
“What’s that? I think we’ve covered all the big ones already.”
“I… don’t know how to do it, or what it’s even called, but when I was mortal, I was under a spell that scrubbed me from the timeline. Or maybe just made me invisible? Ascendants couldn’t see me when they looked through it. One of them described it as if people were talking to themselves when I had a conversation with them, or that objects I interacted with just disappeared while I was using them, only to reappear later in a new location when I was done.”
Hozim shook his head. “That one might be a bit beyond me. It sounds like something powerful, maybe even Exarch-level strong. I could show you a spell that blanks out the timestream around an event so that anyone scrying it wouldn’t be able to casually see what happened, but they would know it had been interfered with.”
“That might be a good start. I have some business with a few mortals in reality prime that I don’t need other ascendants snooping around on.”
“Oh really now? That sounds fascinating. Care to tell me about it?”
“No,” Nym said flatly. “I’m only telling you this much to make sure the spell you have in mind will work for what I need.”
“It definitely won’t do what you were describing earlier, but if you ever do figure out how that effect happens, please consider coming back here to talk to me about it. That’s a spell I wouldn’t mind trading a favor or two to learn. In the meantime, there’s an ascendant I could introduce you to. Her name is Pyoka. She might be able to teach you the spell you’re looking for.”
“Is she part of the neutral Council faction?” Nym asked.
“Yes, indeed. I take it you’re determined to take no sides.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Indeed. Hmm. I would have thought you’d be on Niramyn’s side, all things considered. It’s not too far off the Council’s own position, and you have… well, you know.”
“I have what?” Nym asked. He did know, but he wanted Hozim to say it.
“You’re connected to Niramyn somehow.” Hozim gestured towards Nym’s face. “You look just like him, though the body is a bit younger than he prefers. Add another ten or fifteen years, and you could be twins.”
That sounded like something that would be more of a hinderance than a help. Posing as Niramyn had been useful for his work in Lab Six, but he wasn’t going to fool an ascendant the same way he did the golems of the lab. There was something unique about every ascendant he’d met, some intangible feeling that he couldn’t quite describe.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Perhaps I should rebuild this body,” he mused aloud. “Advertising a connection to a politically divisive ascendant who’s in the middle of a war doesn’t do me any favors.”
“Easy enough to do,” Hozim said.
“I’ll do that first then. You’ll introduce me to Pyoka?”
“I will,” the ascendant promised.
That was one good thing he’d discovered about their economic system of trading favors. None of them considered an introduction a favor, if only because it was incredibly difficult to even find another ascendant if one didn’t already know where they were. A few of them advertised openly with their own beacons to follow, but that was by far the exception to the rule.
Either way, neither Baracia nor Hozim seemed to consider it some sort of obligation or debt he owed them when they made introductions. Nym figured it was either because it was the cornerstone of their economy, or because it didn’t involve spending time on reality prime or any sort of secret knowledge. Whatever the case, he was happy to take advantage of it.
Before that though, he needed a new face.
* * *
Pyoka wasn’t exactly what Nym was expecting from an ascendant. For one thing, she wasn’t human. Maybe she’d been at one time, but now she just looked like some sort of four-dimensional geometric pattern that shifted and folded in on itself endlessly. Nym wasn’t even sure how ‘she’ applied in this case, but if that was what Pyoka wanted, he wasn’t going to argue with her about it.
She also served as a stark reminder that changing the thickness of his nose or hair color was the very least an ascendant who wanted to hide their identity could do. Pyoka’s current physical form was so disturbing that it actually hurt his eyes to look at her. It was an effort of will to look directly at her, though that was helped perhaps by a background just as disturbing.
Like the ascendant herself, the whole thing was infinitely complex geometric designs all moving in some sort of coordinated dance that he didn’t understand the rules to. Nothing was ever in the same place twice, and if there was some sort of pattern, it was far beyond him to figure it out.
If Hozim was to be believed, she specialized in scrying and divinations, more so than the average ascendant, at least. If they could come to an agreement, Nym was hoping to get a better handle on the mechanics of reading timelines without having to actually go to those times and to learn how to hide his own tracks from other ascendants attempting to chase him down.
The copy Nym sent to meet the strange ascendant looked nothing like him, which he probably should have been doing from the start, but he both hadn’t thought to and hadn’t known how. It didn’t take much to figure out how to alter the physical construct he manifested to interact with the constructs the other ascendants used. It seemed like using something that resembled the mortal bodies they’d once had was a popular choice, but Nym couldn’t be sure. He didn’t know what any of them had looked like when they were mortal.
Perhaps most importantly, Pyoka wasn’t involved with the Niramyn or the Myzalik factions and was well-known among the community for her discretion when it came to interactions with other ascendants. She was about as close to perfect as Nym could reasonably hope for, except for one particular detail.
“I have no need for your assistance at the moment,” she spoke in a weirdly flat tone.
“There’s nothing at all?”
“I am happy to bank a favor for future use,” Pyoka said. “It would not need to be a large one, as the skills you are seeking to master require little in the way of instruction on my part. The concepts are not difficult; it is the execution that requires effort.”
“I don’t think so,” Nym said. “I am not big on owing open-ended favors, especially with everything going on right now. If you do decide you need help with something, please let me know.”
“Ah. Wise, perhaps. I have seen several new ascendants drive themselves so deeply into debt that they become virtual slaves to those who are more powerful. But be careful not to be too cautious, lest you find yourself never advancing at all. There is much collective ground we have trodden and very little need to make all of those discoveries all over again.”
Nym didn’t need advice about being careful who he worked with or what favors he traded away. That was the big reason he didn’t want to be owing anyone anything undefined. If they couldn’t work out an agreement in the moment, then that was that. He had essentially unlimited time, kind of, and if that meant figuring it out himself to avoid being in debt, that was how he’d do it. Maybe when the whole feud was over, he’d change his mind.
“Well, if that’s that, then I guess I’ll leave you to your work.” If he had to look at the ever-shifting landscape any longer, something in his brain was going to break.
“Farewell, young ascendant. If you should happen to change your mind, feel free to reach out to me again.”
“Thank you, I will.”
* * *
“Dead end, huh?” Hozim asked. “Hmm, Pyoka would be my first pick for teaching you what you’re interested in, but she’s not the only one. I can think of a few other ascendants who have similar interests, especially in Myzalik’s faction. You’re sure you don’t-”
“Absolutely not,” Nym cut in. “I don’t want anything to do with anyone on either side of that.”
Hozim snorted. “That’s basically impossible. The only ascendants who don’t have a connection in some way are the ones who won’t participate in our society at all. They just sit out there, locked away in their own private fortresses, slowly amassing power and refusing to speak to the rest of us. There’s nothing to be learned there. Best to just leave them alone.”
Considering they had all of eternity to accomplish whatever their goals were, Nym could see the advantages, but he shuddered to think of the kind of mind that could handle an existence that never included another person. Maybe they’d crafted servants to keep them company, like their own private little kingdoms. It still sounded like a nightmare to him though.
“There is one person,” Hozim began. He grimaced and shook his head. “He’s neutral, aggressively so. Strong. Smart. Kind of demanding though. Not to put too fine of a point on it, he’s not a pleasant man. It won’t cost you anything to talk to him, but as picky as you are, I would be surprised if you managed to work out any sort of deal.”
“I guess it couldn’t hurt,” Nym said. “I’m used to dealing with unpleasant people.”
“Not like this guy. I promise you, he’s one of a kind.”