It took a full day for the city to return to a near state of normalcy. Early the next morning, a member of the local Order of the Seven Moons announced that the bishop had been called to the archbishop in relation to the extraordinary events that had occurred. The excuse was completely false, but managed to convey enough calm so as to let the inhabitants worry about other matters. After all, if the Order was looking into something, there was every chance that they would prevent it from happening. The few who really knew what was going on—nobility, awakened, and people in high enough positions—were already discretely making preparations to leave before the real catastrophe took place.
Taking advantage of the Order’s hospitality, Dallion spent the night at the temple. Unable to do the same, Adzrog had to resort to alternative methods. Casting the illusion of a respected dwarf had taken care of his greatest issue, even if it hadn’t allowed him to get anywhere close to the merchant in question. In that case, the issue wasn’t as much one of trust as in the “puncture” being in the vicinity of the respective shop. As a result, the dwarf ruler had dispatched a large number of guards, and a few high-ranking nobles, to examine the matter.
“Think they’ll let us approach by evening?” Dallion asked, leaning against a wall.
The puncture had become an instant curiosity, attracting a lot of onlookers to the point that even a human wouldn’t be noticed.
“Doubtful,” the mage replied, still in his dwarf illusion. “They were sent today, which means they’ll spend the rest of the day pretending to be doing something.”
“And you’re sure none of them will see through you?”
“The spell is flawless,” the mage said. “I checked several times. Not even the archmage would be able to see through it.”
Then how can I see you? Dallion wondered. Initially, he had thought that the reason might be his new magic level, but after a few days, he was starting to think that there was another reason.
“You could have told me that you were Nil,” Dallion said.
“You wouldn’t have gained much.”
“Yeah, right. All the times you lied that you didn’t know this or that. Then it turned out you’re an archmage!”
“That’s one of the reasons I preferred to remain an echo,” Adzorg laughed.
In the merchants’ quarter, several of the guards moved away after placing a solid fence of metal around the hole.
“That’s unexpected,” the mage said, nodding in the direction of the guards. “Looks like they’re done already.”
“Not so much into wasting time, then,” Dallion whispered, although he, too, found it slightly strange.
One of the dwarf nobles remained for a few minutes, talking to a guard captain while the rest expediently left the area. Even from this distance, Dallion could tell that the guard wasn’t at all pleased. Annoyance mixed with a touch of anger clearly emanated from him. On the outside, he remained unfazed. Nodding calmly, he agreed with everything said, then accompanied his superior after the rest of the group.
There was no reaction from the crowd. For the next few minutes, no one dared approach, expecting the guards to return and continue with whatever they were doing. Once that didn’t happen, the first one dared make his way to the hole.
“No need to rush,” Adzorg said. “Let the shopkeepers open first.”
Seeing that nothing had befallen the first wanderer, part of the crowd tentatively followed in small groups.
“Better not,” Dallion said, heading in the direction of the quarter. “The more time we waste, the greater the chance that he leaves the city.”
It wasn’t often that Dallion had stood up to Nil, he had stood up to Adzorg even less. Now, though, he felt he had to. He could feel a sort of tenseness in the air, one that had been growing ever since they had escaped the double vortex. At first, he believed it to be stress, or exhaustion, from what had happened. However, even a full day of calm and rest had done little to ameliorate the situation. Quite the opposite, it was starting to make him feel on edge.
Not another crisis, Dallion said to himself. The last thing he needed was the curse to come into effect.
In a fast but steady pace, the otherworlder made it all the way to the shop in question. Some of the statues—the larger and less expensive ones—remained outside the building itself. The valuable artifacts—those he had come for—had been moved.
Arriving at the door, Dallion knocked.
“I suggest I do the talking,” Adzorg said. “We had come to an arrangement before you intervened.”
That was true, just as everyone in the vicinity had seen the two of them fight with spells in the air. It was an outright mystery how the dwarves hadn’t tried to throw him in a dungeon. In their place, that was the first thing he would have done, regardless of the Order’s backing.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Is your owner in there? Dallion asked the building’s guardian.
He could sense the entity’s presence, yet the guardian chose not to respond.
Unwilling to give up, or give Adzorg the satisfaction, Dallion pressed the handle. The door opened.
“Oh,” the mage noted. “I didn’t expect we’d get lucky.” His fingers moved, drawing a series of symbols on Dallion and himself.
If there was any sign of this being a trap, Dallion would have reacted. However, his recently acquired magic let him see the elements of the spell before it was complete. The old mage wasn’t trying to harm him; on the contrary, he was casting an illusion, making them invisible to the eyes of everyone else.
Suppressing his desire to burst into a dozen instances while the spell was taking place, Dallion remained where he was, then quickly entered the shop. Adzorg followed, closing the door behind them.
The amount of light inside was barely enough to make out the contents of the room. Thankfully, that was no issue for a perception trait of over fifty.
“I don’t see any of the big trinkets,” Dallion said, looking around. Meanwhile, Adzorg cast a quick spell to boost his own senses. “Any chance he could have sold it?”
“Doubtful. Even if he had enough time, I would have known. The part is somewhere here.”
Using his aether vision, Dallion could see all the magic threads of everything in the room. There were more of them than one might think: with most metal being constantly manipulated by dwarf native magic, they were in most common items, not to mention the more exotic artifacts that the merchant kept. Beyond the threads, there was something else—something Dallion was able to spot thanks to his forging skills.
“The floor,” he said. “It’s made of metal… and it also has a ladder in one spot.”
“Yes, dear boy.” Adzorg bent down and drew a triple spell circle on the floor. “What better way to hold your valuable merchandise than to have it beneath the floor?”
“What’s the point? Every dwarf can reach it.”
“The point, as you put it, was never to hide the items, just to store them.”
An opening formed, leading down into darkness. Adzorg started casting a spell, but before he could, Dallion had waved his aura sword and done it for him. A dozen balls of light floated down, revealing a vast chamber. Even from this angle Dallion could see several statues, some of them large as the house itself.
One after the other, the mages leaped down. Without any explanations, Adzorg quickly rushed through the massive chamber. At several statues, he stopped for a second before quickly moving on.
“Is it here?” Dallion followed, yet a voice in the back of his mind kept whispering that something was not right.
“Definitely.” Adzorg stopped in front of a clay statue that resembled something similar to an upright hippopotamus. Without any hesitation, he reached into the statue’s stomach area, his fingers drawing the spell in the process.
A torrent of dust erupted in the smallest explosion Dallion had seen. The old mage reached into the hole, his hand moving in all the way to its elbow. When he pulled it back out, there was a small sphere inside. Now that Dallion could get a closer look at it, the item seemed familiar. In fact, it was very similar to something he had procured once for the general.
“That’s a demon eye,” he whispered.
“Oh, please not you too.” Adzorg glanced at him, annoyed, while cleaning the gem from the dust covering it.
“One of a set of five,” the otherworlder continued. “It went missing a few decades ago…” He should have paid more attention during Adzorg’s memory fragment. “Just like the one I bought for the general from Lanitol’s night auction…”
“And so you did,” the mage said, casting a spell with his left hand. The spell was a one circle transformation spell—harmless on its own, but capable of changing one magic symbol into another.
Suddenly, the illusion spell that hid Dallion transformed. Instinctively Dallion burst into instances, ready to engage in combat. Fortunately, there was no need. While the illusion of invisibility had gone, the new spell formed a protective layer of some sort—one that he hadn’t seen before.
“Just a layer of protection.” Adzorg removed several of his rings. “I don’t want you to influence the timepiece.”
“It’s here?” Dallion asked, surprised.
“In a manner of speaking.” More pieces of jewelry were removed, then assembled together. “I couldn’t risk leaving it behind.” A band of purple energy ran across the elements of the newly created bauble. “And I definitely couldn’t hide it in my realm.”
“You told me you needed a few more pieces for it to be complete.”
“I lied.” The mage placed the object on the ground, then took several steps back. “I couldn’t take the risk you’d try to stop me and give me to the Order. Not before I ended this.”
Dallion tried to take a step forward, but a series of air currents stopped him. It seemed that the magic mesh surrounding him also acted as a sort of prison.
“I expect you’ll shred through my little spell in less than a minute, but that’s all the time I’ll need. Don’t worry, I’ll still take you back to your world… if you really want to. We’re on the same side, after all.”
“You have a funny way of showing it.” Dozens of Dallion’s instances emerged, each trying different approaches. Some tried to attack Adzorg directly, others to undo the spell. Alas, what the mage had said was true. Ripping one or even several air currents was easy, but to little avail, since they were instantly replaced by others.
A series of three portals appeared around the bauble, each larger than the last. Once all of them were present, the timepiece itself rose up, as if from the ground.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Adzorg asked, almost as an afterthought. “It almost pains me to destroy it, but that’s the burden I have to carry. This is without a doubt the greatest invention in existence, and ironically, the best it could do for all the people in the world is to have never existed.”
Adzorg moved closer. There were five slots on the dial, four of them already had a demon eye. All that remained was the last.
“I’ll really miss you, dear boy.”
The mage placed the final piece. Time slowed down to a crawl. Reunited, the five spheres ignited, shining in a deep green light. A rectangular portal emerged beneath the dial. Looking into it, one could see darkness as black as the void; and still there was no sensation of void, as if the portal the device created went right through it.
“I promise to tell Eury and all your friends how you helped save the world.” The mage stepped through.