Swati promised to have a word for Nox. Her family had returned to Ruipur following the Singh incident just less than four years prior. Ancestral connections and service to the city had made her an influential figure. Betrothal to the Trade Empire’s ambassador also gave her some pull. Nox hoped she’d hasten the process and get him a meeting soon. Otherwise, Greywing would return to the City of Ygg just before the new semester was due to begin.
“Would that be so bad?” Caitlin asked over breakfast. Two days had passed since their arrival in Ruipur. “Take it easy. Have some fun. This will be hectic with work, research, and classes once we return. Things will get even more stressful once the baby arrives.”
“You might as well be speaking another language,” Aria said. “Workaholics think of little besides their next project. Nox hasn’t spent a day in the air, not hunched over one project or another. He only seems to relent when we’re on the ground, and there are things to do or people to talk to.”
“Clearly people who aren’t us,” Joey commented.
Nox sighed, putting down his quill. “I’m sorry.” He pushed the parchment away. “I know I promised I’d work a little less—”
“Since we’re on a holiday, that’s technically our honeymoon,” Aria added.
“Yes. I know I promised, but I’m so close to a breakthrough with this further combination of space and time that I can almost taste it. Furthermore, once the baby arrives, I’d like to spend more time not obsessing over projects or new spells. So the more that gets completed and out of the way now, the less there is to do afterward.”
“There will always be more to do,” Caitlin said. “Just enjoy the now.” She nodded at the view from the balcony. Swati had moved them to palatial accommodation reserved for visiting dignitaries. It overlooked all of Ruipur and the sky-ship port in the distance. The clear skies and rich forests bordering the city made the sight even prettier. “It might be decades before you get the time or chance to come back here. Just enjoy your tea, talk to us, and admire it. Maybe just tell us what you’re working on. We’ll all be engaged and might even help you brainstorm a solution.”
“Good luck with that,” Ingrid snorted. She and April sat off to a side just within the lounge and out of the sunlight. “Nothing incomplete gets shared or discussed ever.”
Nox shot his apprentice a stern glare. “It's not that. My projects are a lot more sensitive, and replication might prove dangerous for us, if not the world.”
“Is that why I see you burning pages in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep?” April asked.
“It's not that I’m trying to hide anything from Aria and the rest of you,” Nox explained. “My sleep requirements seem to diminish more the closer Temporal Sphere gets to High Expert. My body. Soul. Everything is changing. I can feel it. Maybe it's the mana density in my body. Perhaps it's the time and space magic. I don’t know. Some of my best work happens in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep. Sigil of the Artisan files everything away in its library. So the papers get burned so my work can’t be stolen or replicated.”
“Does that mean you’ll tell us what you’re working on then?” Ingrid teased.
“Only if you promise you won’t replicate it until you’re at least Low Expert.”
Ingrid smiled. “You give my Spell Weaving skills and ability to hold scripts in my head too much credit. Just Fold Step is pushing me to my limits. Spatial Prison is well beyond me. The only reason I’ve progressed so quickly with gravity spells is because of the warlock pact. But, if it makes you feel better, I promise not to try to replicate whatever you’re designing for your possible High Expert ascension.”
“She lays it on thick, doesn’t she,” April commented, getting a laugh out of everyone but the master and apprentice.
Following an intense staring contest, Nox spoke. “I found a piece of literature in Keepers library based on a concept named Black Holes. They’re collapsed stars with gravity so strong that not even light can escape it. The laws of space and time break down around this thing the author called a singularity.” He opened his journal and drew a quick diagram. “An area called the ‘Event Horizon’ surrounds the singularity where the flow of time changes. Things get slower the deeper one falls into the event horizon. I’m trying to find the relationship between gravity, space, and time for something that could save lives by either preserving life.”
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“Or eliminating the threat once and for all,” Aria said, sipping her tea as she studied Nox’s face. “Don’t think I haven’t peeked at your work when our demon spawn kicked me awake in the middle of the night.” She winced, hand shooting to her belly. Aria laughed, speaking to it. “Yes. I called you our demon spawn because that’s what you are. We love you despite it.” Aria’s attention returned to her husband. “You might have quit delving except for when training your apprentice in Hogg’s Lair, but you’re still developing spells to take on the gods.”
“I’m not,” Nox replied. “Things have been calm the past two years, but that doesn’t mean things will always stay that way. Perry’s Spiders to the East killed Famine. Swati and her neighbors drove Death Walker away, but he disappeared somewhere over the southern oceans. Calamity is still at large. The Cabal is still out there. They might not have the means to create another Warmonger, but there might already be another Pestilence. The bastards want Ygg taken down to complete their agenda.” He ripped out the page with the diagram and everything he had written prior the interruption and set it ablaze with the Forge Touch cantrip he picked up following his last ascension. “It's likely they’ll come after me, all of you, the Galleria, and everyone else that’s important to me. So, I like to be prepared. Call it paranoia, if you will, but it's so I am.”
“Nox Ratra. The preparation wizard.”
No one laughed at April’s words. It didn’t sound like a joke. The young vampire had treated Nox with the utmost respect after he started developing and supplying her with shadow essence pearls. The spells carved into them created emergency cover or shielding against fatal sunlight. They had proved valuable ever since she failed to make any shadow or darkness cantrip the core of her star.
“No one has called you paranoid since what happened with Liesel Wyrd,” Aria said, taking Nox’s hand. “You were right, and we’re all alive because of your preparations and planned counters. We respect the value in what you do and why you do it.”
“We also get carried away while pulling your leg,” Caitlin said. “Everyone here is thankful for all the things you do for us.”
“Grateful even,” Joey added. He raised his cup. “You’re one of the rare people who doesn’t just act in self-interest and for himself. You do whatever you can for the people in your circle and in your care. We respect that.”
“I appreciate the sentiment but it's not exactly true, is it?” Nox raised Aria’s hand to his lips and kissed it. “Brianna wasn’t with us for long, but I accepted her into the party but then failed to protect her.”
“Joey said that you do everything you can.” Caitlin emphasized the last word. “Brianna is forever entangled in the Warmonger curse. You’ve looked endlessly, and so have we. There is no known method of freeing her from it without literally turning back time and ensuring she never got bitten by Hinata. You kept the council from executing her and ensured Lilin doesn’t treat her as poorly as the other souls in Terrastalia. What more can you do? Brianna will remain alive as long as she stays in the mountain. Which means there is still a chance for us to get her out.”
“One of these days, we might find something in Keeper’s library that will do the job,” Joey said. “It's too early to give up hope.”
Lillin and Nox hadn’t interacted face to face since just after the Warmonger incident. However, she had sent several of her proxies planted with black crystal spheres and spoken directly through them. Lillin kept him updated on Brianna’s life and progress. It wasn’t much, but Nox was pleased to know that the former party member had work, decent lodging, and access to a large food supply. He trusted Lillin not to abuse Brianna. Apparently, she gave genuine opportunities and a chance at a not-so-terrible life to hard workers who behaved well. Nox didn’t expect her to build cities in the mountains and let prisoners have families or entertainment greater than a library and fighting pits. No matter how much Lillin pretended like one, she wasn’t human. Connections beyond friendship made little sense to her.
It was clear to Nox that she was trying. He hadn't said it in so many words but was proud of all the ways she had progressed since they parted ways. For a long time, Nox worried about what would happen to Lilin after the contract ended. He had always thought she'd end up the lord of an adept or lower dungeon and soon be eliminated by ambitious delvers eager to advance their careers. But now she had befriended all the continent's major powers, was part of a thriving industry, and was also making the lands a better place.
Ever since Lillin started forming warlock pacts, their communication had become more frequent. Ingrid conveyed Nox’s messages during their weekly communions and noted down everything Lillin wanted to tell her. Proxies visiting the council also frequently stopped by the Galleria, and the now dungeon-lord spoke through them. She had offered to form a pact with Nox’s children once they were old enough, offering more power and better terms than the average contract.
The powerful magic was, of course, appealing. The real bonus was the speed with which it helped the pact partners grow. Aria liked the idea of power and security for their children. She often joked about breeding a legion of powerful spatial mages and planeswalkers who extended Nox’s businesses across countless realms. Nox rather liked the idea.