Tower vortexes. Dallion had read a bit on the topic. Like everything else related to magic, it made just enough sense for a person to get a general idea, though not enough to convince anyone it could exist. Increasing his magic trait to twenty definitely helped. Since then, Dallion was able to see the descriptions that came with magic constructs, spells, even the magic threads themselves. A vast number of the instructions required higher levels, but even twenty was enough to see some basic principles: when portals would open and close, what trigger events were in place, even the purity of specific magic strands.
The roof of the tower seemed completely solid. A novice wouldn’t be able to spot an opening of any sort. Most apprentices wouldn’t either, unless they boosted their perception through a spell or item. Thankfully, Dallion had a pretty high perception trait to begin with.
One thread among the millions that composed the top of the tower was different. Markedly darker, it indicated the area in which the tower was at its weakest. With enough skill and persistence, a mage could find the corresponding spell and form an opening. In the case of Dallion, he simply used a spark attack with his harpsisword.
“Still a vandal,” Nil said in a disapproving tone as he floated above.
“Would you have preferred I use the thread splitter?” Dallion grumbled. He was constantly keeping a few spare instances in case the echo did anything threatening. For the most part, though, he was merely annoyed.
“That’s not the point, dear boy. There are better ways than forcing your way into a vortex.”
Dallion didn’t respond, although personally he disagreed. Spark wasn’t something mages were generally capable of. One could go even as far and say that was the natural counter a mid-level awakened had against mages. As far as he was concerned, it was just another tool. Maybe not as elegant as Nil would have liked it to be, but a single spark slice saved hours of testing and spellcasting.
A crack emerged on the tower’s surface. The harpsisword still inside, Dallion extended his own magic through the weapon, using the tip of the blade to draw a portal spell. It was a lot trickier than usual, but he had the practice.
With the portal complete, Dallion created a second one with his left hand above the tower. A thin thread emerged, connecting both. According to the Academy scholars, the thread “stitched” both portals together, making them no different than a single doorway as far as reality was concerned. In practice, Dallion didn’t even care. Pulling out the harpsisword, he stepped through the portal, ending up on the tower’s top floor.
The surroundings were exactly what he expected from a vortex, but there was no way they wouldn’t be.
“The real thing’s not that different,” Nil said, appearing a step away. “The whole point of the vortex cage training is to prepare mages for real life.”
“Will you keep floating around all the time?” Dallion asked. This was starting to feel too much like the time in the prison realm.
“Look who’s talking.” The echo smirked.
There didn’t seem to be any creatures, which meant that this was going to be more like a riddle vortex. Still, Dallion didn’t let his guard down. A dozen of his instances constantly moved about in every direction, helping him map the area, while three kept an eye on Nil.
It was huge. If it wasn’t for the floor, ceiling, as well as the occasional wall, one could think this was the outside, or at the very least, an area realm.
On first glance, there didn’t seem to be any flaws within the threads of the structure. Everything was perfection itself. Just to make certain, Dallion touched the floor with an instance of his.
MINOR WOUND
Your health has been reduced by 5%
A red rectangle emerged. A zap of purple lightning followed moments later.
Nasty, Dallion thought.
Not only was the effect unexpected, but it affected him through his instances. That meant that using echoes would be more appropriate in the current situation.
Bending down, all the while careful not to touch a magic thread, Dallion tried to see if there were any legible instructions. There didn’t seem to be, but he suspected that was primarily due to his low magic level.
“To end the suspense, the spells are in the threads,” Nil said. “Good instincts, but you don’t have the level yet.”
“At least as far as the trial is concerned.”
“Think what you will, but the real thing is a lot more difficult than this. You’ve had first-hand experiences, you should know.”
Indeed, Dallion had some experience with a lower-level vortex. At the time, he had managed to brute force it without issue. That was the reason the approach wouldn’t work here.
“You aren’t going to call Lux?” Nil arched a brow.
“Five percent is fine,” Dallion stood back up. “No need to put him at risk.”
“Paranoid as a mage. There’s definitely hope for you yet.”
Exploring the fifth floor of the tower took close to half an hour. The area was vast, and the walls were clustered semi-randomly. At first, Dallion thought that he’d have to solve a maze, but soon it became apparent that there was a pattern to the chaos. The walls were, in fact, static barriers. Increasing in frequency towards the center, they were protecting the center of the floor. The thing that threw Dallion off was that the space changed, transforming a square room into a round area. Once he got through that, it was easy to find the exact spot that marked the center.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Shield, have you ever seen anything similar?”
Nope. Why do you ask?
“It reminds me of the towers in the fallen south.”
I’ll take your word for it, the shield said.
“Harp, what about you?”
The harpsisword guardian didn’t respond. No doubt that was another taboo topic for her. It was always possible that such things didn’t exist in the past. There hadn’t been any hints of it in the memory fragments Dallion had visited. Then again, he hadn’t seen any vortexes there either.
“If you’re trying to make me feel bad, keep in mind that I’m only an echo,” Nil grumbled a few steps away from Dallion.
“I know. That’s why I’m not.” One of Dallion’s instances charged at the echo, making an attempt to slice him in two. The blade crashed against an aether barrier which, unlike most of the ones before, didn’t give in. “There’s no way for me to know you’re telling the truth.” Dallion chose another instance to become reality, then split again.
“That’s a bit harsh. Although, you’re right to be cautious. All I can share is that a lot of magic achievements were made by analyzing vortexes. The method to stretch space beyond its constraints, for one thing. Maybe you could learn a thing or two as well once you deal with the real thing.”
“I’ve already dealt with the real thing.” Dallion continued walking around the inner wall of the room. There were two entrances, but for the moment, he chose not to cross them. Given how innocent and nonlethal the tower seemed, so far there was bound to be a stronger protection spell of some sort.
“Only to a degree. I’d suggest that you read up more on the matter, dear boy. Stop with your current obsessions and focus on what’s really important.”
“That’s convenient.” Dallion stopped. He had found another opening leading to the central area.
It all seemed a bit too tidy. Three openings all leading to the same central spot. Was this a metaphor for something?
“So, you’re telling me to forget about you and Di and just go back to the Academy to prepare for the vortex?”
Leaning in, Dallion focused on the threshold. Some of the threads were glowing in a different intensity. He could almost see the instructions, but they were impossible to make out clearly. Summoning his thread splitter, Dallion used an instance to charge the weapon with spark and toss it through the room. As expected, a wall of energy appeared, only to have the thread splitter dagger create a hole as it flew through. A few seconds later, he did the experiment again to identical results.
A repeatable electrified barrier, he thought. Not bad, but still somewhat underwhelming. If this was a high-level vortex, there had to be something else.
“Shield, roll up,” Dallion said.
The armadil shield, faithfully floating beside him, extended, then rolled up into a sphere. Once that was done, Dallion gently pushed it towards the wall opening.
The moment the tip of the shield was about to cross, the barrier appeared, this time blocking the object.
“Does it hurt?” Dallion asked.
Not particularly, the guardian replied. Alright, it doesn’t hurt at all. Please don’t do that in the wild. I’m still healing the scars you gave me last time.
“When?” Dallion asked, concerned. “You said you were fine at the vortex.”
Not the vortex. Everything that happened during the time of your chaotic-youthful phase.
Dallion unsummoned the shield. No sooner had he done so, than Nil floated past, entering the central area. As if in mockery, the tower didn’t react to the intrusion.
With an internal sigh, Dallion drew his harpsisword again and used the same method that had gotten him into the tower. It was neither elegant nor imaginative, but it got the job done. The moment there were two portals on either side of the opening, Dallion had an instance of him pass through. When nothing happened in response, that instance became reality.
Now the hard part, Dallion thought. If a simple portal bypass had helped him so far, it wasn’t going to in the future. The floor in that section of the room was a lot more solid than the rest. The magic threads were thinner, but also more numerous, all glowing in flawless purple. Even a spark infused thread splitter wasn’t capable of creating a hole.
“Don’t,” Nil said, arms crossed in a disapproving expression.
“Don’t what?” Dallion asked.
“I know what you’re thinking and—”
In a split-second Dallion let go of the thread splitter, summoned his harpsisword, infused it with spark, then performed a point attack straight down. Hundreds of magic threads snapped, causing a crack on the previously flawless surface. Another point attack later and the cracks became a hole leading to the floor below.
“Don’t do that?” Dallion asked, glancing at Nil with an instance.
“Just because you have some skill is no reason for you to get arrogant, dear boy,” Nil grumbled.
“It worked, didn’t it?” Dallion asked. “Besides, you told me that all mages are arrogant.”
“All world conquerors were awakened. Does that mean that all awakened are world conquerors?”
An interesting take for another day. Dallion burst into instances again and had them pour onto the fourth floor. The moment he did, they were attacked by an equally large swarm of fox-like creatures.
VORTEX MINION
Species: VIXENAIR
Class: MAGIC
Health: 50%
Traits:
- BODY 20
- MIND 20
- REACTION 50
- PERCEPTION 20
- MAGIC 20
Skills:
- ATTACK
- ATHLETICS
- SPELLCRAFT
- SUBLIMATION (Species Unique)
Weakness: UNKNOWN
You must be kidding me! Gritting his teeth, Dallion performed multiple line attacks with his instances, but to limited effect. The vixenairs were way too fast to let themselves be affected by the line of destruction. Working as a group, the minions combined magic with attacks, pushing all of Dallion’s instances out of the floor. Even worse, they didn’t stop there, leaping up to where Dallion was.
Instantly Dallion cast a barrier spell, patching the hole, but even he knew that was a temporary measure.
“That’s why you shouldn’t rely on brute force,” Nil said. “Sometimes a barrier isn’t there to keep you out, but something else in.”
“Thanks for the advice, o wise one.” Dallion snapped back. He was expecting some underhanded trick, but definitely not this. And since he had only bypassed the protective spells leading him to the center of the room, he couldn’t run out of the small encirclement, either.