Archmage Mathers settled into his chair with a sigh of relief. Having spent the day traveling all over Hennings, suffering through meeting after meeting, it was nice to be able to sit down and enjoy some heavens-blessed silence. Despite having gotten around most of the paperwork his newfound position demanded, he was still swamped with work.
Their shadow war with the Tower of Fate, along with the day-to-day considerations he had to deal with were filling his days with obligations he couldn’t ignore.
Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a bottle of Boltarian red along with a glass. While he still had multiple things he needed to get done today, a glass or two of wine probably wouldn’t hurt.
After using a simple spell to remove the cork and instantly aerate the wine, he poured himself a glass while thinking, ‘Even after delegating most of the responsibilities of the position, I’m still stuck dealing with too many duties. I haven’t seen the inside of my lab in days. It’s no wonder that old bastard was always in such a horrible mood,’ he thought to himself.
Having just thought of Archmage Jennings, Mathers groaned out loud in annoyance while collapsing deeper into his seat in defeat. ‘I keep forgetting to check in with him,’ he chided himself.
After taking a hefty gulp of wine, he straightened himself up and sent out a request for Jennings to open a connection. If there was one thing Archmage Mathers refused to be, it was a procrastinator.
While enjoying his wine, he waited patiently for Jennings to contact him, knowing that the archmage was currently out of his office. Through the dedicated connection they’d set up, he could look in on the man whenever he wanted, he just usually was too busy to bother.
Eventually, he felt the connection request come in from the relay they set up between Dorchester’s Tower of Magic and the one here in Hennings.
“Mathers! If this is about the localized ether collapse, you don’t have to worry. I already took care of it,” Jennings said in lieu of a greeting.
Confused, but not terribly interested in hearing about it, Mathers replied, “Oh, that’s good then. Well done.”
Unsurprisingly, Jennings immediately saw through Mathers’ bluff and asked, “If it’s not about the ether collapse, then what’s the matter? Has there been an issue with the shadow war? What have those fate-obsessed idiots done now?”
Mathers chuckled, somehow comforted by Jennings’ ornery nature. It reminded him that despite currently being the one in charge of the council of magic, it was Jennings who was the true power in the Tower, and likely would remain so until he either died or ascended.
Waving his hand dismissively at the transmitted image of Jennings, Mathers replied, “No, nothing like that. Everything is going to plan, and as far as we can tell the Tower of Fate is still debating how to respond to the rapidly changing public opinion. Granted, they’ll have to do something soon, or some glory-seeking young noble is going to propose a reform to the council of leadership and then it will be out of their hands.”
Nodding in understanding, Jennings replied, “Alright, then what do you want?”
Grimacing, Mathers replied, “Honestly? Nothing. I just haven’t spoken with you in a few days, and I haven’t had time to follow the reports coming out of Dorchester. The last I heard, the dwarven ambassador had chosen Dorchester for their experimental city initiative and since then I’ve been too busy to follow up with you.”
Having already known all about the dwarves, Jennings wasn’t surprised. What was surprising was Mathers being too busy to pay attention to what he was up to. He’d have thought that Mathers would have dedicated an entire mind partition to monitoring him.
“Alright, I’ll bite. What’s got you so busy that you can’t watch over me, silently judging me like you usually do?” Jennings asked with a subtle tone of accusation.
Mather’s replied quickly, “I don’t usually wat-”
Jennings interrupted him with an angry, “Mathers! Spit. It. Out!”
Sighing, Mathers replied, “It’s just… being the acting head of the council of mages isn’t as enjoyable as I thought it would be… and I… I miss my lab.”
Rolling his eyes, Jennings said, “If there is anyone in the world who can relate to what you’re going through, it’s me. It’s incredibly annoying to finally get the position you’ve always wanted, only to find out that it is a headache you were completely unprepared for. Why do you think I sent so much of my work your way? Hells below, I pretty much spent the past 100 years perfecting the art of having other people do aspects of my job so that I was free to spend my days tinkering away with my experiments.”
Mathers, having gotten used to the idea of Jennings avoiding his responsibilities wasn’t remotely surprised. Once again sighing, he asked hopefully, “I don’t suppose you’ll be returning to Hennings anytime soon?”
Jennings narrowed his eyes in consideration as he evaluated Mathers’ puffy red eyes and generally defeated demeanor. From what he could see, the poor man wasn’t handling being in charge of the council of magic nearly as well as Jennings had expected him to.
Rubbing his chin in thought. ‘Considering how obsessed with rules and paperwork he is, I would have thought he would love having everyone reporting to him. Looking at him now, it’s like he’s already succumbing to age creep,’ he said to himself sarcastically, mocking the man’s tired appearance.
Suddenly widening his eyes, Jennings muttered a curse, “Devils and demons damn that little shit!”
Mathers, broken out of his thoughts by Jennings, raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, “What? Who’s a little shit?”
Audibly groaning in annoyance, Jennings replied, “Our anomaly. I just, unfortunately, realized what that nonsense he’s been spouting about not wanting to be a leader is all about. I thought… well, it doesn’t matter what I thought. Just… if you can find the time, track down the recorded scry of his address to his house’s troops after the recent battle with the kobalds. Also, I recommend scheduling a session or two with a wayfinder. I hate to say it, but I think we as a people have forgotten what our founders truly wanted for us.”
Mathers, thoroughly and utterly confused, replied, “A wayfinder? I haven’t spoken with a wayfinder in centuries. Why would I need to sche-”
Interrupting him, Jennings replied angrily, “Just watch the little shit’s speech. Then tell me it doesn’t sound like something out of the old tales of the founding. You’ll see what I mean.”
Not understanding the connection between the topic he’d brought up, and what Jennings was talking about, but not wanting to further anger the temperamental old man, he replied, “Alright. I’ll be sure to do so. But, in the meantime, do you have anything to report that I should be aware of, or that you need my help with?”
Jennings’ furrowed brow softened, remembering that despite their confrontational relationship, they’d always looked out for each other. “No, I’m fine. Don’t worry about my little adventure out here. You just focus on reminding the people I’ve had dealing with things that just because I’m not there, doesn’t mean they’re not still responsible for the duties I’ve assigned them. Here, I’ll send you the master list I created concerning who I’ve had doing what. It should hopefully free up some more of your time, allowing you to get back to your lab.”
Having received the list on his link, Mathers immediately opened it. He could see scores of names, each one a member of the council, and each having been given responsibilities that he’d been busting his ass dealing with since the Jennings had left the city. He’d already known about the Jennings offloading his paperwork onto others, but seeing the true extent of his delegation shenanigans, he felt his face turning red from his blood pressure spiking.
“You’ve had this list the entire time! And those bastards just let me do everything! I’m going to kill them! I’m going to drag each and every one of those smug bastards to the arena and end them! Then… when I’m done with them, I’m going to deal with you! How could you not tell me about this!”
Jennings, seeing the ethereal waves or essence pouring off his friend over the scry connection, decided that it was a good time to end the conversation. “Well, I’m happy to be of help. Remember what I said, I think you’ll find it enlightening. Be sure to get some sleep… you look stressed,” he added with a smile.
As Mathers screamed, “JENNINGS!” the scry connection cut off, leaving him once again alone in his office. With his fists clenched in rage, he noticed that he had lost control of his essence field, causing a small, localized essence storm in his office. Tragically, he could see that he had inadvertently caused the wine in both his glass and the bottle to boil, completely ruining the one good thing he had going for him on this… his most miserable day in recent memory.
Muttering softly, he promised himself, “Yup… I’m definitely going to kill him.”
—--
Slipping into his inner world, Nero took a deep breath of fresh air. The cobblestone path below his feet was where it was supposed to be, and the sky was still clear of rain. The puffy clouds overhead, along with the bright and cheery sun gave the forest in his mind an ambiance of tranquility. Yet, there was a pervasive sense of the unknown, a promise of adventure provided by the dancing shadows and the uncertain path in front of him.
“Looks like everything is still working,” he said to himself as he glanced around at the floating memories hovering all over the place.
Rubbing his hands together, he got to work. Instead of just mindlessly incorporating them, he let himself get lost in the recollections, experiencing them all over again from an objective perspective.
He rewatched himself giving his speech to the wackos… and the potential wackos. Just as he’d thought, it was just as cringe-worthy as he expected it to be. While he could tell that everyone enjoyed it for some reason, watching himself rant like a crazy person caused him to face-palm and promise that in the future he’d make some notecards or something.
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The only positive he could see was that despite physically being a teenager, he actually didn’t really look like one. Whether it was the way he stood, what he was wearing, or just the look in his eye, he looked more like a young man than a 14-year-old brat throwing a tantrum. Looking at it objectively, he could even see how some people… crazy people that is… might consider what he’d said as inspirational.
He then relived the meeting with the leadership of his house, enjoying once again how everyone seemed to know what they were doing without asking too much for his input. Aside from noticing that Knight Angleton was a little more angry about his little speech than Nero remembered him being, he thought he’d gotten his point across well.
Most of what he saw was unsurprising but still noteworthy. Everything he was re-experiencing felt more like shoring up his foundations than progressing further along his path. Besides, being able to consider how he ‘felt’ about what he was taking away from the experiences was probably more important in the long run than what he’d actually experienced.
‘I need to remember that perception is reality here… even more so than it was in my previous world,’ he thought to himself with a frown.
After he’d caught up with everything that his soul had stockpiled, he found himself at a loss for how he should proceed. He’d thought he would have learned something from watching his rather profound revelations happen from an outside perspective, but that hadn’t been the case.
Checking his identity panel, he saw that he only gained around 15% of a level… barely anything.
Name
Nero Walker
Level
16
Race
Human
Growth
28%
Tier
1
Condition
100%
Age
14
Center
100%
Body
4
Mind
5
Soul
2
Confluence
11
Stars
0
Pillars
3/ 1
Not that he’d expected all that much from a single day. If he were being honest with himself, he’d have to say that he was still leveling a lot faster than he should be.
But, he still had questions that he needed answered. For example, his pillar had acquired a new ability which was supposed to help him ‘harmonize’ his attributes… whatever that meant. Also, if growth was primarily about figuring out who you are, then why would he need to go out and do anything? Couldn’t he just stay in his room and think about stuff… like a monk… or a stoner?
While he rubbed the back of his head in thought, he found himself staring at the literal path in front of him, wondering what his upcoming life’s journey had in store for him. Although he was trying his best to embrace the metaphors and understand how all of this crap worked, it was still really annoying.
Pausing in thought, he recalled the offhand comment he’d made to Nick and Quincy about how growth was basically like world-sponsored self-enchanting. By creating experiences, and using them to reinforce his identity, he was both giving his life meaning and becoming more ‘himself’ than he was before.
Suddenly, he had a stray thought that made the back of his neck begin to sweat.
‘Have I ever looked behind me while I’ve been in here? I haven’t… have I?’ he wondered to himself, while all of a sudden feeling like something vast and dangerous was directly behind him.
Slowly, he turned to look over his shoulder to see the path behind him. Widening his eyes in shock, he recoiled from the sight of his path leading off into nothingness.
Around 50 or 60 feet away, the path just ended… or started… or something. The cobblestone path, the forest, even the sky, it all just stopped. In their place was a solid wall of kaleidoscopic colors that he somehow just knew was outside of the reality he’d been living in.
Had that always been there, or had it just appeared when he’d thought of it? Was there even a point to thinking about it?
Muttering unconsciously, he said, “I really do come from outside of this plane of existence… I’m like a body-jacking dimensional alien with superpowers.”
Ripping his eyes away from the incomprehensible sight, he turned around to face forward again, taking deep breaths to keep himself from freaking out. He already knew he couldn’t really ‘move’ forward or backward along his path, so he was incapable of running away or exploring what he decided would henceforth be referred to as the ‘reality wall’.
Feeling his knees getting a little weak, he sat his ass down on the cobblestone path and looked up at the sky while trying to regain his bearings.
Seeing proof, even if it was metaphorical, of his weird nature shook him to his core.
After a bit, he managed to get himself together and start thinking about what it all meant. Looking around, he let his eyes wander over the shadows and trees, reveling in the feeling of the gentle breeze on his face, thoroughly enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.
Then, like he’d been hit with a ‘duh’ hammer, he remembered that all of this was in his head, or his soul, or something equally ‘not real’. Even worse, it was a representation HE’d made up, one he was now finding emotional comfort in. He was quite literally calming himself down.
Frowning at the thought that he might actually end up going crazy if this world continued not making any kind of real-world, logical sense, he closed his eyes and renewed his promise to himself that he would continue taking things at face value. The last thing he wanted to do was start overthinking things. That never works out well for anybody.
What he needed to do was focus on the tangible, real-world things he could control. While he couldn’t outright ignore all this spiritual nonsense, that didn’t mean he had to focus on it. All he had to do was treat it like a microwave. There was absolutely, positively no reason he needed to understand how it did what it did. Simply knowing that it did it was enough. The food still got hot, as long as he followed the rules. Don’t microwave metal or plastic, and be sure to stir what he was cooking every two minutes.
Same thing with his leveling. All he had to do was focus on his goals, avoid getting distracted, and respect the grind. Although, aside from his brief stint as an elite trainee, enjoying the personal instruction of Cathleen, he hadn’t done all that much grinding.
Shaking off the distracting thought, he said to himself, ‘Doesn’t matter. I’m more of a learn-while-doing kind of guy anyway.’
Standing up, he firmed his shoulders and glared at the path fading off into the distance, and the mountains beyond. “My long-term goal remains the same. Big ass tower. Reality-altering super-mage. Adventure.” Nodding to himself, he added, “Tomorrow, I’ll state my intentions clearly, and if they really want to follow me, then so be it. I decide what being their leader entails. Not them. My life is my own, and my destiny… is mine to control!” he stated loudly and firmly as if he were daring the metaphorical path before him to disagree with him.
From out of nowhere, there was a massive clap of thunder, loud enough to shake the ground under his feet. A strong breeze blew across the forest like a wave, spinning loose leaves and dirt all over the place. Even the sky changed, as though a cloud had passed in front of the sun, casting the entire area in a temporary shadow.
Then, as quickly as it started, it was over.
After wiping the dust from his eyes, he could see that the sun was back out, and the forest had returned to normal. However, the cobblestone path under his feet had changed. No longer was it a small but charmingly enduring path through the forest. Now it was a road, a small one, but a road nonetheless.
It had widened considerably. And the stones that used to be randomly sized, but well placed, were now more uniform and much flatter. No longer were there shoots of plant life coming up in between them. Now, the path looked like it had just been freshly laid by professionals.
Facepalming himself, he groaned, “Son of a bitch… my path is now wide and clear. This entire world can just eat a dick!”
Completely over the idea of putting up with any more self-reflection, Nero hastily ejected himself back into reality, finding himself once again in his massively oversized bed. Feeling the obviously enchanted mattress cradling him like an infant, and smelling the wonderful scent of freshly laundered sheets, Nero easily put all that nonsense behind him and instead let himself drift off to sleep.
As usual, he suffered through a mildly uncomfortable night of images assaulting his dreams and interrupting his rest. Thankfully, since he was back in Dorchester, he was no longer just seeing the life and times of the kobalds, he was now able to catch glimpses of Dorchester in all its glory.
He saw average citizens going about their lives, trying to make connections with each other, finding love and friendship. Hardworking men and women dedicated to improving themselves while putting up with the daily annoyances like work and in-laws. He saw scheming nobles meeting in secret and witnessed the web of connections their houses provided. It was like seeing massive multicolored roots spreading out through the city, both feeding off it and simultaneously holding it together.
But that wasn’t all, he also got to see visions of Dorchester’s history. He witnessed the failed Dorchen rebellion against Oglivarch and the consequences thereof. From his third-person perspective, he was able to see the moment the essence flows collapsed, causing the ether itself to recoil from the material plane. He saw the moment a woman who looked much like the city lord took up the throne. He felt like he could feel the heat on his face as he watched the city burn.
Unfortunately, the entire experience was just fractured imagery accompanied by intuitive understanding and hints. He learned no secrets, nor achieved any understanding of anything remotely useful. When it was all said and done, all he’d gotten out of the experience was a restless night and a slightly improved perspective of what the city was.
Sitting up in his bed, he rubbed his temples as the memories of what he’d just experienced settled into his mind.
“Would you prefer to bathe first, or would you rather have your breakfast, my lord?” asked a voice from his right.
Nearly jumping out of the sheets in shock, Nero looked over to see Ms. Davis standing there with that motherly, yet inviting smile on her face. She looked exactly the same as she did yesterday and seemed perfectly at ease standing there at the edge of his bed.
Panting heavily from the shock, Nero held a hand to his naked chest to settle his heart. “How long have you been standing there?” he asked in a growl.
While keeping that understanding expression on her face, she replied, “Not long, my lord. So, bath or breakfast?”
Grumbling to himself about annoying ass servants being nothing more than paid babysitters, he crawled his bare ass across the bed. He absolutely refused to be intimidated by the idea of her seeing him naked. If this was supposed to be his room, then he will damn well treat it as such.
Walking right past her with his head held high, he said, “I’m going to the bathroom… don’t even think about following me.”
As he strode off, he tried to maintain as much dignity as he could, despite his current exposure.
While he headed down the steps leading down to the rest of the room from his bed’s pedestal, he heard Ms. Davis’ calm voice reply, “As you wish, my lord. You still have 3 hours until you’re needed in the receiving hall. Breakfast will be waiting for you when you return.”
Not bothering to stop, or even acknowledge what she’d said, Nero headed off toward the bathroom for his morning ritual, his head still reeling from all that he’d experienced while he’d slept.
‘OK. First, take your morning dump. Then a shower, brush your teeth, and get dressed. There should be plenty of time for coffee… I mean breakfast. And for God’s sake man, remember to read the damn schedule thing Vera sent you,’ he mentally yelled at himself while stomping across the room to the bathroom, already knowing for a fact that today was going to suck balls.