Chapter 88 Grand Magus
Lenna heard what sounded like a sprinting stone golem and jerked upright. She had been bent down to clear away some of the bones, armor, and other debris from where Isaac and her were going to wait for Alexander’s return. What she saw momentarily surprised her until she remembered who she was with. Lenna sighed and shook her head as she set her hands on her hips and settled in to wait for Isaac to finish.
Isaac had created a dozen solid spears of shadow and was mentally launching them into the side of the crater they were in in rapid succession. Each impact resounded not from the solid shadows impacting stone but from the stone impacting itself after the sudden involuntary deconstruction. Isaac’s spears were portraying an entire team of masons quarrying out a wagon load of gravel. Eventually Isaac stopped and wiped some sweat from his brow as the shadows dispersed.
“Isaac, what is that?” Lenna asked him while she stared at the two foot by four foot area of stone that was all but turned to sand.
“You’ll see in a minute.” Isaac replied and took a few pulls from his waterskin. “I just need a short break. Shadows are not meant to be used like that.”
Lenna nodded in agreement at the obvious misuse of Isaac’s color of magic. “Should I keep cleaning up the area?” She questioned. “Or are you just going to throw stones and stone dust over everything?”
“Only get rid of the bones.” Isaac replied and tossed his waterskin back into his inventory.
—
Alexander had finally finished speaking with the Crown Spatial Advisor. He was an elf who had been studying spatial magic since before Safeharbor had even been an idea. The man was a master at everything related to the school of magic. His obsession was so intense that there were rumors that his reason for it was actually an unrequited love for the demigoddess of Time. It was common knowledge, to all of those that lived long enough, or talked to those that did, that Space and Time were extremely close. Whether the man’s spatial knowledge came about from a fruitless attempt at replacing Space as Time’s best compliment, or for some other reason, it didn’t matter to Alexander. All that Safeharbor’s Court Mage cared about was the elvish male’s mastery over dimensionality.
Alexander took the time he had, until Karthen Eidi’Diasta would arrive, to get Celeste to help him bring the pair of waiting maybe-demigods some hot food. Celeste had just headed into the back to help Leo pack the food up when Alexander felt a massive but pinpoint ripple and pressure in the mana next to him. A moment later a tall elvish man with pure golden hair, glowing green eyes, skin the color of exposed birchwood, and sharp features appeared with little fanfare. There were no visible effects, nor any obvious exhaustion, from the man who had just teleported from the capital to right next to him without the aid of a ritual or any guidance, as far as Alexander could tell. “Alexander.” The elvish man purred. “This is,” He looked around the room but only witnessed some slack jawed adventurers and guardsmen eating dinner. “not the location of the ‘event’.”
“No, Grand Magus, I was instructed to not return unless I,” Alexander began and then cleared his throat before he finished in a low voice: “returned with warm food.”
Karthen’s chin rose ever so slightly and his shoulders seemed to square even more. His dark gray robes stitched with literal emerald thread only magnified his imposing and authoritative stature. “Alexander. Are you, or are you not, a court mage to a duke of his majesty, the king of the land on which you stand?” He questioned the young prodigy turned court mage. Karthen didn’t wait for Alexander to reply. “You have status that commands respect and I had wrongfully assumed that you were aware of that fact. Now, take me to the dimensional destabilization destination.”
Alexander had barely opened his mouth to reply before Celeste walked out from the kitchen with a picnic basket full of warm food and fresh drinks. “Here you are, Alex-” She began before she looked up from her burden to see the imposing Grand Magus of spatial magic. “Is there anything I can get ya before you head out?” She asked both Alexander and Karthen.
Karthen seemed to take in the half elven woman in her entirety as his ancient emerald eyes stared unblinkingly at her. Alexander took the basket from her with a nod. “No, thank you, Celeste, we must be off.” The young wizard told the seasoned sorceress.
“Alright.” Celeste replied. “I packed enough for four but I don’t think that’s enough anymore. If you run out of food, I am sure Karthen would be delighted to come back and get more.”
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Karthen finally blinked and actually flinched slightly at hearing his first name so casually spoken by a woman he didn’t remember ever meeting. “Who are-” He began.
“If you’re not going to order anything then I have other customers.” Celeste cut him off with a smile and then seemed to glide around them to help one of her regulars at the bar.
“If you are ready, Grand Magus.” Alexander said and prepared to teleport. “Should I teleport us both?”
“No.” Karthen distractedly replied. “I doubt I could stomach your shunt through space that human wizards call teleporting. Go, I will follow.”
Alexander nodded and spoke the incantation. A moment later he appeared where he had appeared previously. “He’s coming make sure Shame-” Alexander’s words cut off as he realized Shamesh was nowhere to be found. Not only that but he also felt Karthen appearing next to him, so even if he had finished his sentence, it would have been too late for Isaac to do anything about his bone golem retainer.
Karthen appeared as Alexander was blinking dumbfoundedly at a very peculiar sight. Nestled into the side of a crater seven feet deep and twenty feet across were the duo he had come to see. Isaac had his hands behind his head and his eyes closed. His legs were crossed as he lounged in a pod of crushed stone that was the perfect size for him to rest in. Right next to the dark mage was an identical carved out seat for his mate who was also relaxed. Behind Lenna’s helmetless head was a folded blanket that she was using as a pillow and her fingers were interlaced across her abdomen. Her sword sat sheathed across her lap and her eyes had just cracked open at their arrival.
“Finally.” Isaac said with a sigh. “Any longer and I would have tried to stabilize the breaches myself.” Isaac rose to his feet and offered Lenna a hand. Lenna took it and let him haul her to her feet.
Alexander took a moment to compose himself and then began walking towards them. Karthen followed behind him at a leisurely pace. “I had to wait for Celeste to finish packing our food.” Alexander commented. “She said she packed four meals.”
Isaac and Lenna turned to regard the pair of wizards. “But there are four of us.” Isaac commented.
“Yes?” Alexander replied.
Isaac frowned. “I hope the new guy is either really good at spatial magic or brought his own food.” He commented. “Who’s your friend?”
Karthen was taking in the pair of adventurers with no small amount of suppressed disdain. All adventurers were crude and most of them were also abrasive. Adventurers were the reason why most elven nations saw humans as uncultured Neanderthals, apes capable of speech and using simple tools, the nobility being the only exceptions. Karthen couldn’t hold back a slight wrinkling of his nose at the dark elven woman with the human adventurer. Her armor was of noble drow quality and the way she moved spoke of centuries of military service. Karthen couldn’t keep himself from looking down his nose at her. He had never heard a single good thing about a dark elf, from a credible source, and he doubted he was about to have a good experience with the one in front of him. Not because of anything she had specifically done but simply because of what she was.
A sudden flare of power that threatened to buckle Karthen’s knees exploded from the area next to the woman. The feeling of witnessing the death of a thousand souls settled onto his heart like an anchor of solid iron. His entire body became slick with cold sweat as a pair of silver eyes bore down on him with a righteous fury that could have only come from an angered god.
—
Isaac put up with the looks most people threw at Lenna because she hated causing trouble. At the same time, Isaac had no qualms with smashing the face that had thrown his mate a dirty look into the dirt with enough force to permanently rearrange it. That was while they were inside of Safeharbor where he had to be careful not to overdo it. When the uppity newcomer looked down at Lenna like she was the dung a beetle rolled across the ground he refused to let it go. Fortunately for the elf, Isaac needed a good spatial mage and he had faith in Alexander’s ability to get one.
Power was the one thing that everyone, no matter their age or upbringing, understood. Power was something that Isaac had in abundance. Power was how Isaac decided to correct the foreign wizard’s behavior before it drove him to do something more drastic.
Isaac’s entire mana regeneration rate was forced out of his body in the form of death flames in all directions except for around his eyes. The flames that poured out of his eyebrows and forehead were directed away from his eyes so that the wizard could see exactly how Isaac felt about his conduct. “Alexander, did you inform your friend on who you were meeting here?” Isaac questioned the court wizard in a perfectly measured and flat tone. The dichotomy between his tone of voice, directed at Alexander, and the awesome expression of controlled violence and disdain he was directing at Karthen, only served to amplify the other’s inhuman perception of him.
Alexander bowed immediately. “I did not, Lord Darkness, I ask for you to be lenient in this circumstance on account of this man’s usefulness to not only yourself in this situation, but also the crown on a daily basis.” He spoke quickly and deliberately. There was an audible but suppressed quiver in his voice from being so close to, what was undoubtedly, enough death flames to remove him from existence before he could even feel the pain. Alexander had worked with Isaac enough to know that Isaac wouldn’t blame him for Karthen’s ‘behavioral problems’, however, the magical and soul deep pressure was still incredibly intense.
Karthen was not one to pay much attention to the happenings in the kingdom around him. He paid attention to the movements of powerful people and he made sure that the teleportation network remained operational. He also made sure to always be available for the king in the event that his expertise was needed. Everything else, especially when it came to adventurers, was forgotten almost immediately after he had overheard it. At the mention of Isaac’s title, Karthen’s mind had finally put together the casual image of the man, his description, and the recent report of a man and woman in Safeharbor giving Judgment a public beatdown. Karthen had never been a fighter and that fact had never gone to the forefront of his very being at such a rate as it had upon that realization. The urge to teleport away was almost overwhelming, but he knew that if the man in front of him was actually a demigod then there would be no running from him. Everyone knew that the demigods of humanity worked together, and if Judgment hadn’t declared a crusade, then that meant that any ill will between them had been cleared up.
“Speak, wizard.” Isaac demanded with two simple words backed by all of his earned and bought power. The power not of a demigod, but of a dragon.