Chapter 91 Position Of Ignorance.
“That was some amazing timing, Alexander.” Isaac complimented the wizard while they all took a breather after their glorious minute and a half of horror monster slaying bloodshed.
“Thank you.” Alexander said between deep breaths.
“How’d you do it?” Isaac questioned.
“I saw the way you were looking at Lady V’Nova, after she bisected the first one. When I saw what Shamesh was doing, I knew exactly what you were going to do” Alexander explained.
Isaac blinked owlishly at him. “Am I that predictable?”
“Yes.” Lenna and Alexander said at the same time.
“You try too hard to have fun while fighting instead of just killing the enemy.” Lenna explained.
“You do have a flair for the theatrical.” Alexander agreed.
Isaac didn’t deign to reply and instead turned to Shamesh. “Just hide and regenerate your mana for now.” He told his retainer and shrouded the skeleton in shadows. “Karthen?” Isaac asked Alexander.
“I’ll send him a-” Alexander’s voice trailed off as they felt the incoming teleportation spell. Isaac shot Alexander a look that threatened to stop the young wizard’s heart. “I didn’-”
“Hello.” Karthen greeted them as he reappeared. He gave them a bow. “I congratulate you on your-”
“You were scrying on Alexander.” Isaac stated with steel in his silver eyes and voice.
“I, uh, yes?” Karthen replied tentatively. “Should I not have?”
“Alexander, you have a spell to modify memories do you not?” Isaac questioned the court mage.
“I do but I need special permission from the duke to use the spell on anyone as it is a banned spell.” Alexander explained with worry on his face.
“Alexander?” Karthen questioned.
Before Alexander could reply, Isaac appeared next to Karthen. “Do it. I am giving you authorization.” He ordered Alexander.
Karthen tried to take a step away from Isaac but bumped into something that he couldn’t even feel. He threw Alexander a look that basically ordered the court mage to sort out the situation. “Grand Magus, what did you see while you were watching me?” Alexander questioned the ancient spatial wizard.
“I could not see either of them, they are under protection from divination spells.” Karthen explained.
“But you did see the new arrival, didn’t you?” Isaac pressed.
“Did I? It was all quite chaotic and I was too occupied worrying about my former pupil to notice anything else.” Karthen lied through his teeth.
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“Karthen Eidi’Diasta.” Isaac said the wizard’s full name for the first time. “If so much as a word about our fourth party member and his abilities gets out, I will not have to find you for I will already know where you are.”
Karthen paled and seemed to shrink back further into the wall that he couldn’t feel. Karthen wasn’t lying when he said that he couldn’t see Isaac or Lenna but he had seen the repercussions of their actions from Alexander’s perspective. He had also seen their fourth party member and the creature of bones showed at least as much magical prowess as a combat mage of his level, not a magical combat master, but it was at the same level as the average maximum level combat wizard. Karthen had witnessed Tunnel Horror’s get bisected and watched as they were tossed around under extreme impact forces that were powerful enough to break their stone-like chitin. He had also seen first hand how none of them had taken so much as a scratch save for a scuff mark on Lenna’s breastplate.
Karthen bowed towards Isaac. “I understand and will maintain my position of ignorance.” He promised Isaac.
“Then there is no reason why Alexander can’t just remove the last two minutes of your memory.” Isaac argued.
“Actually,” Alexander began but stopped himself to swallow under the piercing gaze of Isaac and the calculating gaze of Lenna that had just switched targets to him. “the spell can cause long term memory damage unless it is used within thirty seconds of the memory that needs to be erased.”
Isaac's eye twitched. “Alexander,” Isaac began. “You have three options.” He said and held up a finger to begin counting. “One: You wipe his memory of the battle regardless.” He held up a second finger. “Two: You take responsibility, personally, if any of this get’s out.” He held up a third and final finger. “Three: You chose neither and I kill him. The breaches are already closed so my bounty is complete.”
Alexander looked at his former teacher with pleading eyes. “You understand how much of a risk I am taking to vouch for you, right?” He asked the Grand Magus. “You cannot run from them and neither can I.”
Karthen nodded his head a few times rapidly. “I do. And I will never forget this favor.” He told the young wizard. “I swear myself to silence on my family’s honor.”
Alexander nodded once in finality. “I will take responsibility for the Grand Magus.” He told Isaac. “He is more interested in magic than politics anyway. If for some reason he does leak information about you, then I will help you remove any evidence of said leaks before taking your retribution.” Alexander swore to Isaac. “Will that suffice?”
Isaac nodded to Alexander. “That will do.” He told the court mage that had helped him quite a few times in the past. Alexander leaking information himself had never been in question. The wizard’s loyalty to his duke and duchess was pure and unblemished and Isaac and Lenna had no reason to believe that he would put either of them in jeopardy on purpose. “Alexander, you know that I trust you, right?” Isaac asked the wizard without any of the previous intensity.
Alexander was stunned into silence for a moment. “I, uh, thank you.” He replied.
“If you had given Izen a recording of the battle, I wouldn’t have cared because I trust Izen to get rid of the recording once he finished watching it.” Isaac continued. “I do not trust your friend and because of that, I will have to hold you to your promise if the time comes.”
Alexander nodded. “I understand.” He replied like a soldier who had been given orders to lead his men into battle, though the young wizard showed no fear, it was still obvious that he was hiding any worry behind a front of duty and resolve.
Isaac gave Alexander an easy smile. “Now, why don’t we get into Shamsha’s shed and see if we can’t find anything expensive?”
Alexander nodded again. “Yes.” He agreed and then turned to Karthen. “Grand Magus, if you would please begin.”
Karthen didn’t say it out loud but the interaction between Alexander and Isaac had given him a profound respect for his former student. The young man, who stood before a being of terrifying power, looked as though he could have stared down a tsunami. Karthen gave Alexander a nod of respect and gave Isaac a shallow bow of subservience before he turned towards where the breaches had been. “I am afraid that the area will need to be cleared off as I will need a flat surface to draw out the ritual.” Karthen explained. “If you would give me a moment-” His voice died in his throat as he felt magic reach out and grab hold of the Tunnel Horror corpses that were in the way and push them away to give him space. “Thank you.” He said and then swallowed. The rest of the debris quickly followed after as it was all pushed aside under invisible forces that all of those present could easily feel.
“You are going to have to fill in the holes yourself.” Isaac told Karthen. “I trust that won’t be a problem for you.”
Karthen shook his head. “Not at all.” He replied and got to work.
It took nearly an hour for Karthen to fill in the holes with stone shaping magic and draw out the required ritual. Once he was finished it took him another minute of dumping his mana into it until a portal finally appeared. Watching a portal appear was a new experience for Isaac and one that Lenna had not had for a very long time. The pair had been too busy fighting for their lives, when Shamsha had used portals to summon meteors from the sky, and the entire event had happened in the span of a second.
The portal started as a violet smoke that seemed to materialize out of thin air. As it did it coalesced into a ring that hung in the air. The ring was a dozen feet across on the inside and the smoke itself was another three inches thick. After a moment the smoke transitioned into a flat pair of bands that held unknown runes between them. Another ring was formed between the first two and the runes shrunk as they seemed to pick which new ring they would be in at random. The open space in each ring was soon filled with new runes. The process repeated until there were seven rings packed into a three inch thick band and thousands of runes.
In the space between each of the seven rings the runes seemed to pulse. They pulsed again and again, each time leaving one of the runes glowing at a brighter intensity. Once five runes were glowing, inside each of the six sets of runes, between each of the seven rings, four colors began swirling inside the one portal as the connection between two realities was formed. A moment later the swirling colors in the middle of the portal faded away and Shamsha’s demidimension was on the other side.