Suddenly, like a wind of change that gusted through Owen's room and upturned everything he had ever held dear, he found himself once again before the dragon, psychopomps with that ever same glare down at him as it had the day it placed him within its nexus.
Standing upon the podium with the magic sigils lit amongst the stone base he once stood upon when given a choice of death or servitude. What felt like a millenia had passed, and if he didn’t know better he would have assumed it had.
“Welcome back, Immortal. I trust your training was successful,” the dragon said. Owen had forgotten the feeling of having him speak directly into his mind by now. Something that despite his training in mind magic he had no chance of blocking out.
“More than so.” He responded tersely.
“I dare say, grumpy here is ready to be a full fledged part of the team.” Swiss assured as she also appeared nearby. Approaching she jumped to slap his arm and grinned widely at the dragon. Owen couldn’t fathom her reasonings for being so happy while being alive for as long as she had. She certainly was an enigma, but one he enjoyed spending time with.
He had hardly been alive for a fraction of any of their lifespans and he could feel who he once was slowly slipping away, hence the grumpy title. Psychopomps didn’t seem to mind the jab and seemed happy that Owen was ready “Well that is good. I happened to miss you all in the weeks you were gone.”
That was one of the first harsh lessons he had learned within the nexus. Mind, body, and soul separated into a space where they could train to be as efficient as they were. Within that world time passed differently. The dragon had a mastery of all forms of magic, including one that kept our minds and souls in pristine condition in a state where time passed infinitely slower while their physical bodies remained in the real world where they once were. This was a magic the king's men would be proficient in and a team of royal mages could manage to slow time to a scale of one to four hours at the best of implementations.
Thousands of years passed in the blink of an eye within Psychopomps nexus.
To the rest of the world it had simply been a few weeks, but to them… Well, they trained day in and out until their souls could not handle it anymore. Each night the immortals collapsed in their individual rooms and awoke the next morning to continue no matter how much pain they suffered for what felt like eons.
Alister approached from the cell he had spent the night in before he made his choice back then. “He will fit in just fine,” he added to Swiss’ vouch of Owen’s training.
“Oh, now you are willing to admit I did well?” Owen asked. The context implied a joke but the tone was serious.
Alister’s laughter echoed through the garden which caught the attention of the giant at the gate who glanced their way and a smirk snuck across Alister’s face as always “Don’t get used to it. I am simply saying you are ready to work.”
Psychopomps listened to the jovial back and forth for a few moments before he interrupted and said “Very good. Now that you are back, I have a job for you all. So please, gather the others and show our newest member to the planning chamber.”
Owen hardly had a moment to react as Swiss grabbed his arm and pulled him from the podium towards those two large doors along the main path they had avoided on the original trip here. “Technically, this will be your first time meeting the others,” she joked. By now it was getting a lot easier to tell what was a joke and what wasn't. It often involved how her nose twitched as she spoke.
“Just because I am meeting their bodies for the first time does not mean I am meeting them for the first time.” He responded. At least in his understanding, the soul and the body may have been reflections of one another.
“You know, I miss when you weren’t so dry,” she added in response, continuing to tug his arm as she was quite strong despite her size.
“I don’t understand how you aren’t,” Owen responded tersely.
“Cause life is worth livin’, you just gotta see it.”
They continued through the main doors into a large stone hall that had several suits of armour lining each side of the hall. Though they didn’t seem like some generic decorative set piece. Each one seemed to be hand crafted and unique and upon further investigation he found that they were each sets of armour used by kings of eld who had taken to the battlefield with their men in war.
Each in line seemed to be from the various eras, dating all the way back to the first king Ergon. Known for being the man to found the first real nation the world had known as far as the history books knew.
A red carpet draped the stone floors of the hall and lining the walls were various paintings of the stages of the kingdom's history from conception to the modernisation of magic and industrial revolution of recent decades.
In the heart of the secluded tower lay a hidden chamber known only to those who have attained immortality. This chamber, known as "The Chamber of Eternal Strategy," had been crafted with utmost care to facilitate the gathering of immortal beings from diverse backgrounds. The room's design reflected a harmonious blend of elegance, mystique, and practicality, making it an ideal setting for the wise to converge and ponder their shared burden of endless existence.
A natural radiance permeated the chamber, emitted by luminous crystals embedded within the domed ceiling. In the middle of the chamber stood the centrepiece of the group's gatherings. A magnificent round table carved of stone engraved with ancient runes of a tongue Owen could not recognise. Given the creatures he shared this new station with it was safe to assume it was a tongue that existed long before he did that has been lost to time.
Each member of the team that he had spent the last few thousand years training with had made their way at their own pace to the chamber, along with one that he had not recognised but had been told about.
Mydir was similar to frost, a titan of a man who wore only an apron made for the finest blacksmith in the land. His body was dark and shrouded in a black fog that only gave him the vague shape of a man with piercing yellow eyes slicing through the fog. Some jokes making their way through the group that he was once but a human that smithed so many works for the dragon that the soot of his furnace became one with his body.
“About time I get to meet the new meat.” The blacksmith said in a boisterous tone as he flipped a metal fold out chair to sit upon while the rest of the group sat at the ornate stone chairs that matched the designs of the table. Owen had assumed he made the chair himself, or that Psychopomps took issue with him disrespecting these ancient relics.
“I have only been here a few weeks.” Owen said in response, “Technically.”
“As if you lot are the only ones who had to do that crap.” He spat in response, a crude tone and what one could only imagine was a belligerent look behind the smoke. “You lot got yer own slow down time, I got mine.”
“Why would you not join the one we were in?” Owen asked. Taking a seat of his own upon an ornate seat added a third theory. Perhaps the blacksmith made his own because these seats existed for show more than comfort.
To his amusement he was most likely waiting for that question so he could proudly say “Because yer’ all a nightmare!”
Alister decided to cut the conversation short by actually explaining “Because he is a smith through and through. So he is given one where he can work entirely in silence and we won't spoil his focus.”
“Bah, same thing.” The smithy responded, waving him off as if he had just ruined one of the best jokes of the decade. Owen had heard many stories of the man while in the spatial distortion and it was hard even as a no named alchemist in the regular world to not know the name Midyr. The man who created many of the land's greatest weapons.
“You had mentioned there were other immortals, do they also have their own form of negative space?” Owen asked, having heard during training of at least four others that didn’t seem to be here with them.
“Each of them have their own form of space.” Alister answered quickly.
Mydir decided to elaborate for him and said “Cause we ain’t one of you fancy team workers we each have our own space tailored to what we do… Fer the most part.”
They had told Owen about the others, Mydir being one of them of course but he was here now. Another being a fox of sorts, the 9 tails, or Seth they called her. She often spent her time travelling the world and visiting towns that paid respects to her. Far too childish to be held as an agent or operative as she only dealt in harmless pranks and protected those who played with her, often loved by children.
There was one that Alister continuously referred to as the ‘god of trade’ but the others called him Deryl who travelled the lands and with his silver tongue and quick wit would strike deals that benefitted not only the kingdoms he dealt with, but the coffers of the team.
Then there was Thomas, the adventurer who saw the sky as his playground. He specifically looked for ancient tombs to raid and treasures to collect that he would provide to Deryl who would then go on to use them in his trades. It was rare that the main group here would ever get to see him in person as he could spend years in his airship travelling from cave system to cave system.
They seemed reluctant to speak of the last immortal. Something about her seemed to turn them off of explaining. Often stating that Owen would understand once he met her and that any story would do her a disservice.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to meet someone with such a reputation, but that was besides the point at this time. For now the others took their seats upon the cold stone chairs.
The conversation of liminal spaces and time distortions came to a halt as the voice of Psychopomps echoed through the halls, this time as if speaking to them, instead of directly into their minds. “A job of utmost importance has come to my attention.” He stated, his voice reverberating around the inner sanctum. What one could only assume was a magical construct of the dragon appeared in the centre of the table they sat around and it spread its vast wings to create small orbs of magic that slowly sank into the table's surface.
Once fully absorbed, small images began to ascend from the surface of the table that created a small army of faceless figures “As you all know, the cycle of life and death is important.” Repeating once again what they were fighting for, something that always rubbed Owen the wrong way.
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Though this wasn’t the time to dwell on such feelings. Once again the dragon moved to have a city form atop the table, one that Owen recognised. It was the centre of what was formerly known as a part of the seven nations which was clear by the castle that stood directly in the centre adorned with flags of king Nicolas.
“As the cycle must continue, so must the position of Death itself,” Psychopomps continued. During Owen’s time within the nexus he had been taught by the others that Death was less an active role in passing each soul to the afterlife and more of a figurehead that prevented those who wished to avoid it from doing so. “The new Death has been born, but my senses tell me that he is not where he is supposed to be,” the dragon continued. The city lit up to show a red aura around the castle and surrounding area. “I fear that somehow someone has ascertained his true identity before he knew it himself.”
While this would be where the old Owen would speak up and ask some snide question about why Death would be in a position to be compromised like this he had learned over his training to simply shut up and listen to orders.
Osmir seemed to notice that he wanted to ask something so he bit the bullet to explain “Death is more of a title than a being. A job so mentally taxing that to expect one being to do this for eternity would be cruel.” He stated in a matter of fact tone.
Psychopomps nodded to him and took the time to continue, the dragon explained “The previous Death has requested to pass. Once this request was submitted the new Death was chosen from the souls within the flow.” Spreading its wings once more the table's images shifted to create an image of the cloaked, scythe wielding figure that many knew as the grim reaper. Moments later several others appeared around it of various sizes, the common feature they all held was no matter what race they were, they were skeletal constructs within the confines of the robes.
“There have been several Deaths over the millenia.” Psychopomps continued, blowing a blue flame over the table where they began to vanish one by one until the last was a tall elven skeleton remained “The previous Death is ready to pass. While that may seem dangerous to have a gap of retirement between them, Death does not personally deliver souls to me. Death’s role is similar to your own in preserving the balance of life and death. While you prevent immortality from coming to fruition, Death makes sure souls do not get trapped in a limbo and helps ease the passing process for those too afraid to let go before they become unwilling demons.”
Alister interjected once the explanation for Owen was complete and stated bluntly “So we are to travel to the seven kingdoms centre and find where young Death is?”
The dragon nodded and allowed the table to return to the image of the city that previously covered the surface “It would be disastrous if someone were to abuse the power of a young Death and cause an era of suffering for all. You will leave in the morning so be prepared.”
Owen couldn’t help but stare at the map with a hint of concern, something about it didn’t seem right but he couldnt put his finger on it. “What is it?” Psychopomps asked when he noticed his expression.
Owen stood upright at being addressed, only a moment away from saluting the creature before he said “I haven’t been to the seven kingdoms since I was studying to be an alchemist but something about this map doesn’t seem right.”
Seven kingdoms… It was something with the name that bothered him until it finally clicked. Having spent thousands of years within the nexus a lot of memories had become quite distant but he remembered and awaited the nod to be allowed to speak again “It hasn’t been called the seven kingdoms in recent times. With the war going on, the capital has fallen to a new king.” He began, pointing to the castle in the centre of the image where the bandits flag was “Raul the warrior succeeded in usurping the throne of Rosemary about a year ago and from there he plans to extend his rule, pushing into the surrounding kingdoms with the war until he unites all of the kingdoms under one rule.”
It was strange to Owen that they wouldn't know this, this was quite a historic event in the continent's history as the first time the kingdom was forcefully taken over. The room fell silent for a few moments as they took in that news and Psychopomps responded “It is odd that my scouts would not have reported this. I will need to find out what happened to prevent this information from coming to my attention.”
After some deliberation Alister spoke up and said “That does not change our mission. We are to prepare to depart in the morning. For now you are free to do as you wish until nightfall where we will go over provisions.”
“Oh, my favourite.” Swiss added in a mocking tone, knowing as always she would be the one acting as a walking suitcase.
This left Owen with time to explore the halls of the castle, though Swiss was sure to not let him go alone as it was quite easy to get lost. The cobblestone halls adorned with more suits of armour which left an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Most likely down to that he could feel a sense of magic about them.
Swiss followed his gaze and briefly explained “Constructs. Mydir spent some time trying his hand at automata soldiers. Not very useful but they do scare tourists when tours are done.”
“Good to know.” Owen responded.
Swiss seemed dejected by such a simple response but continued to walk with him. Scilence ensued for an awkward hallway before they came to the sleeping areas. “This will be your room.” Motioning to the several doors that were all equally spaced apart.
Each room had a name plate associated with it and as she said, Owen had one prepared that looked like it had just been placed moments ago. “Thank you for showing me my way.” He stated with a slight bow of his head before he took a hold of the doorknob and pushed it open.
The room itself was quite plain which was to be expected since they weren’t exactly expecting him. The air was also quite stale which caused some irritation to his nose but by now he had learned to deal with discomfort.
The first thing he did after closing the door was open the window which gave a view over the gardens below and occasionally a view of the giant dragon's tail as it swayed past. The room itself was a simple cobblestone design like the halls with a large bed in the centre of the back wall, a study desk under the window and a chest for his clothing on the other side. Something he could most likely end up customising himself when he had time.
He wasn’t quite used to the flow of time being normal again as he spent some time simply laying on his comfortable new bed staring at the ceiling and contemplating his training and how he should proceed from here to grow stronger.
The obvious choice was to visit the moles and continue his training into mind magic but he would need to wait a while for that since they needed to implement all the tools that the group had taught and given them to start their own community.
Next there was physical training which he could easily have asked Alister to help with such a task but that required dealing with Alister. The others were strong, but his innate resistance to physical attacks made it far safer to train with him. His personality made it much more difficult to deal with him however.
He could have also worked on his alchemy in hopes of making a new concoction that could enhance his abilities or even weaken enemies. The main problem there was dealing with the process of obtaining ingredients. They weren’t as free in the real world and would cost both time and money to obtain.
As he was lost in thoughts, the sun steadily set in the distance and the silence was broken by a loud banging on his door that snapped him from his daydreaming “Come on, time to eat.” Alister called.
“Why not just break my door down if you are going to knock that hard…” Owen thought as he stood, never daring to say something like that to his face unless he wanted his plastered against the back wall.
“I’m coming…” Was what he finally vocalised for the giant human.
Following him silently to the dining hall which was only a few rooms down from the meeting hall he made his way to the cooking station as the others sat at the table. He had taken up the role of cook to prevent someone else from making something that wouldn't agree with his sensitive taste buds. The others were more than happy to leave the cooking to him.
“So.” Osmir began as he placed his tome down when everyone gathered in full. “The job at hand is going to be a large-scale investigation.”
“First job for the newbie and It’s a big one.” Alister added.
Frost as usual sat with the group but she remained as silent as ever, only speaking whenever she needed to it seemed. Swiss was already packing devices and healing supplies into those markings she had.
This was such a routine for these people that they knew what to do. Owen on the other hand, had no idea what he was doing for the night as he was dragged about from storeroom to storeroom filling up the storage compartment that was an ally with gear and pre-made potions he was informed of the plan along with a handful of what was left from the potions he made in the nexus. Making sure to request his enhancers were taken.
“When we make it to the city we begin with general questioning.” Osmir instructed “We check with the servants of the castle to find if anything strange has been happening of late and rule out that Death has not simply been hired as a servant by mistake. We need to ensure what kind of situation we are dealing with.”
“How long will it take us to reach there?” Owen asked once the briefing had given him moment to respond.
“Three days, we will be taking a train out of the city and changing to another at Delir. We will take a short break once there to recuperate and enjoy a regular bed before we get the train in the morning,” Osmir responded. Taking his final tome from the shelves of the store room he decided to keep this one on hand and turned to the group “Now!” The large orc exclaimed “No ifs ands or buts. Get to bed and we leave in the morning.”
Sleep came easily here as Owen was used to collapsing into bed exhausted every night. Sleeping on a comfortable bed without exhaustion was nice.
With that, the group moved in the morning. The city was very lively at this time. Restaurants lining the main street with a view of the giant dragon that overlooked the city, coiled around the tower that everyone believed was some form of divine that looked out for them.
The looks of the common folk of the city were also something that Owen noticed as they passed. It was no secret that Psychopomps had a group who worked for him but what he didn’t expect was that they were treated like celebrities by some folk. Approaching and asking questions about their new member only to have Alister tell them to move out of the way and not interfere.
Not in a million years would Owen think he would ever be a part of something like this. He assumed he was going to live and die as an obscure alchemist who made perhaps a single discovery in his life, but now he was here and the gaze of the public adoration certainly confused him.
The city even had a working tram system that the group used to make their way to the train station on the edge. Osmir flashed some form of symbol akin to the one Owen got when going to find the moles at the ticket inspectors as they approached and got a nod in response, the rest of the group ignored by the inspectors as they continued to check the other passengers' tickets.
Swiss expected Owen to ask a question but when he didn’t, she re-explained anyway “Within the city walls, we have a badge that lets us use facilities as we need. Public transport is the most we use it on. Most of us feel too bad using it at restaurants.” Her eyes gave Alister a side glare as she mentioned the latter.
Alister furrowed his brow and refused to comment as the tram continued its journey and left them off by the packed train station. The badge came in quite handy here as it allowed them to simply walk to the gate and show it to the instructor.
“Ah, yes, of course sir!” The conductor said to Osmir as it was shown, stepping aside and opening the gate for them “A special cart has been reserved at the back for you and your group.”
“Thank you, sir.” Osmir responded, slipping the badge back into his chest pocket and proceeding forward.
When he heard it described as a train cart he assumed it would have been one of those larger luxurious first class carts that had seats and beds lining the walls and a table in the middle for them to sit around and discuss plans.
What they got in actuality was a near empty train cart, spare a few boxes here and there of goods being exported. No seats, no tables, just an empty rectangle room that the others all moved to sit down in.
Despite the fact they had all gotten a train cart together there was oddly a lack of conversation between the group. It didn’t help that two of them were brooding giants and Osmir preferred the solitude of his books.
Swiss was used to the situation when it came to conversation so she kept herself entertained with some games she had brought along. It seemed to be mostly single player board games which Owen recognised from many lonely nights when he first came to the city.
“You are free to join if you want. I have others.” She offered.
Owen politely denied the offer as he held his hand up “Thank you for the offer, but I am going to train.”
She seemed slightly disappointed but nodded and returned to her game, leaving Owen to take a seat down at the back of the cart and close his eyes. Opening his mind to the world around him and attempting to probe at his allies' thoughts.
“Very good. Training is important.” He read when he forced his way into Alisters mind. He was always one of the toughest to read given how stubborn he was. Frost on the other hand was impossible to crack, no matter how much he tried or what methods he tried there was no way that he could get into or read her mind.
Osmir on the other hand was one he liked to avoid reading, as any time he managed to get past his mental defences it led to a lecture within his own mind. If the orc ever noticed that he had a guest inside his head, especially Owen, he would begin to recite lectures and explain the importance of how careful he must be with such a power.
Swiss was often an open book. While it was not easy compared to normal folks standards she was the easiest for Owen to probe. At the moment she was simply reciting the rules to the board game to herself while setting up the pieces for the long journey ahead.