‎Chapter 9: Servants of their masters

"I'll kill him! I'll tear him to pieces and have his remains thrown through a portal into the world of omnipresent slime!" Principal Argus tossed an already badly dented phone around his office, "If Majere bursts in here again and reproaches me, I'll... I'll... kill him... Kill him."

He emphasized his statement by banging his fist against the wall. He liked the spider web pattern of the cracks that formed in the exposed concrete and calmed him down again.

His secretary watched him unimpressed the whole time and then said calmly: "Should I try to stop him next time?"

"No! I would really hate to have to train a new secretary."

"Speaking of familiarization, I have instructed your new butler in the most important university procedures. He's been waiting outside the door for two hours, very patiently I might add."

"New... Oh yes. Then Sir Richard has already sent someone. Good. Why didn't they say anything?"

"They were... busy."

"Oh yes. That's right. Send him in."

"His employment contract is on the desk. I still need a signature."

"Yes yes..." The principal skimmed the document quite indifferently.

A tall and slender, almost skinny, pale figure entered quietly. His gray tailcoat could have come straight out of an old Sherlock Holmes movie. The principal only looked up briefly from the employment contract and waved vaguely in the direction of a chair. The butler stood next to it, but did not sit down.

"Sunday afternoon is your only half day off?"

"Yes sir. An afternoon off to regenerate is necessary to keep me mentally at maximum effectiveness. That is not negotiable."

"What a shame. I was actually planning to give you Saturdays and Sundays off completely. Plus the usual 29 days' vacation a year."

The butler's voice was unwaveringly calm and composed: "That would be completely exaggerated and inappropriate for my position."

"Whatever you say." He put an illegible scrawl under the document and stuck it haphazardly in one of the drawers. His secretary would find it and tidy it up. Or not. Who cared. He wouldn't stick to this contract any more than any other if he didn't feel like it.

*

Leonardo studied the formula notes and compared the protective circle on the floor that Rodrik had drawn in the last few hours with the sketches. Samantha observed the whole thing much less expertly, but with an increasingly serious, furrowed brow. Even without all the theoretical background knowledge of the other two, she had heard from all the comments and discussions that there were countless ways to make mistakes. With all kinds of different consequences. None of them particularly pleasant. Neither for the mage nor for bystanders. "Are you really sure this will work? Maybe we should just ask if we can use one of the professionally secured summoning circles in the university."

The young demonologist shook his head resolutely: "Nothing is conjured at the university without Majere's consent. And if he finds out what we're up to... Just forget it. I've studied the whole thing. I'll manage it."

Samantha still wasn't convinced: "I still don't understand why we don't just ask him for permission."

Rodrik grimaced, "I wasn't going to mention this, but Malvian Metzger suggested two weeks ago that we try a standard summoning..."

"So, what did he say?"

"No idea. The escape breakers at the university hospital have been trying to undo his petrification ever since. It's just a bit difficult because one of his arms broke off when he was thrown across the grounds. It now has to be reattached at the same time as the petrification, otherwise he will lose it. But at least the petrification has protected him from the fireball and the lightning."

"I already understood. If we tell him, he'll go crazy." She raised her hands in surrender: "All right. Carry on."

The young mage giggled slightly to himself and ran to the table with the rest of the equipment. He opened a small silver box and took out a piece of orange-gold chalk. With the skill of long practice, he carefully traced the outer circle of his incantation circle several times until he had used up about half the piece. The gallifreynium in the chalk would serve as a catalyst for the incantation. Rodrik began the incantation. Quietly, he muttered the mnemonic devices, using them to form the necessary patterns in his mind.

Leonardo watched with interest at first, then slowly became restless and pulled his PDA out of his pocket to look through some old construction sketches. He absently rummaged in his pocket and stuffed one of the caffeine sweets he found into his mouth. Samanael had brought a small rug with her, on which she made herself comfortable in lotus position and relaxed in a light meditation. It didn't really fit in with her current camouflage identity. But here at the university, she had long since given up paying so much attention to her camouflage.

Rodrik raised his hands slowly and imperiously. The summoning circle began to glow slightly as he continued intoning in a loud voice: "By the power of magic, I summon you! Through the space between dimensions, I summon you! With the seals of magic I bind you..."

Samantha stood up and tapped Leonardo: "Tell me, is the shouting really necessary?"

"No. The spell has been cast, the Gallifreynium is active. The rest is just there to impress the audience."

"Does he know that too?"

"I don't think so. He originally learned magic in one of the really old-fashioned dimensions. And without a solid background in magical theory, it's hard to tell where the necessary rituals end and the unnecessary fuss begins."

"I think something is happening now!"

The light inside the summoning circle seemed to grow dimmer for a moment, then fog seemed to form in it for a moment. And then suddenly Norman was in the circle, as if he had been there all along. He stood leaning forward, holding one hand out as if he were holding something. Disoriented, he stumbled forward two steps and crashed into the protective circle. The magical barrier lit up and became visible as a closed cylinder three steps further up.

Rodrik put his hands down: "Being of the Nether Hells, hear the voice of your master. Kneel!"

Norman fell to his knees as if he had been kicked in the back of the knee.

"Hey, are you crazy? And why am I kneeling here right now?"

"I have summoned you across the dark abysses of the dimensions, dark demon. The magic of summoning gives my words power over you. My will is your will. My wishes..."

"If I come out here, you're going to get one hell of a beating!" Fists steeled by hard work clenched and relaxed: "Hey, this is university, isn't it? Leo? Is that you back there?"

Leonardo turned off his PDA and carefully packed it away again as he walked towards the summoning circle: "Norman! Boy, am I glad to see you. How are Jane and the math genius?"

"The two of them are fine. For now. But you won't believe where we've ended up... "Samantha interrupted him: "Carcerus. We know."

"Hey wait a minute!" Rodrik sounded completely outraged: "There are certain formalities to be observed when summoning a demon! First of all, we have to make an agreement that it won't attack us or harm us in any other way as soon as we release it from the summoning circle. Then..."

Leo shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes. He pointed at the spell circle: "Interdictum Arcanitas!" Then he vigorously wiped the spell circle with the tip of his foot. The barrier, which was invisible again at the moment, glittered briefly once more and then went out.

"You can't do that! What if he attacks us now?"

Norman jokingly took a step towards the black-robed mage's apprentice and clenched his fists.

"Stop!" The young summoner raised his hand commandingly.

Norman hesitated briefly and listened to himself. Then he grinned: "Nope."

He quickly but carefully grabbed Rodrik by the collar. The lanky guy froze. Norman looked him grimly in the eye for a moment, then grinned and let him go again: "Thanks for getting him back. But next time, don't use that domination spell. It feels awful when my body suddenly disobeys me."

"Do you know how hard it is to change an existing spell? I didn't have time to work on it for a few months. If I could have managed it at all. And demon summons have been optimized over centuries of work for maximum demon control. This particular formula..."

"Yes, yes. That's all right. But while we're chatting here, people are dying on Carcerus."

Sam interrupted him, "What's wrong?"

"So it all started when we jumped out of the Library of Alexandria into the portal..."

Norman told the story somewhat confusedly at first, but became more and more systematic after a few questions from the three other students. Finally he came to the plan he had been interrupted from presenting: "... And if the others don't come up with the same idea, I don't see how they can survive. But now you can just get them all out! Preferably before the shadow butterflies or those corpse golems get them."

The three of them just looked at him for a moment. Leo spoke first: "I'm afraid that won't be possible."

"Why not? You got me out too."

Silence. Samantha put a reassuring hand on his arm: "You're not really here. We brought your soul through the dimensions and gave it an illusionary body."

"Feels real..." He stroked his hands over his body. Everything felt normal. As he stroked his forehead in relief, he wondered. "Hey... What's that?!"

He felt over the small pointed bumps. Horns? He looked at Rodrik questioningly. He immediately raised his hands in defense: "Most variants of the summoning formula require at least a minimum of shape changes and markings to prevent summoned demons from mingling with humanity without being recognized. I left out all the optional ones, that's all I could do. I can't leave out the horns and some tattoos with mystical symbols of warning without reworking the entire spell."

"All right, then. It's not that important. But shouldn't I have a pulse? And if I stop breathing..."

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Rodrik interrupted him pompously: "Never mind. Demons don't need to breathe, eat or drink. They can't father or conceive children and..."

"Thank you! I didn't want to know that exactly. Does that mean my real body is now lying dead in Carcerus?"

Leonardo shook his head: "Unconscious, not dead. Nothing will happen to him so quickly... Unless you were busy doing something dangerous."

"Would I notice if my body was dying?"

"When you're back, probably..." Rodrik didn't seem to think it was that important. Norman stifled a few sharp comments. If they had only caught him a few hours earlier, in the middle of the fight, he would probably be dead now. But they couldn't have known that.

"So how long am I going to stay here?"

Leo looked briefly at his watch: "Another 20 minutes or so. Then the Gallifreynium will be used up and you'll be withdrawn. And we don't have enough of the stuff to bring you back. So we have to decide quickly what we want to do."

"Can you give me anything I can use to take out corpse golems? Or those weird shadow butterflies?"

Leo shook his head: "We could transport objects to Carcerus, but the accuracy would be in the region of 100 km. And for that we would definitely need the machines in the institute and lots of Gallifreynium. We can't give you anything directly, as you're not really here."

Rodrik intervened: "I could show you a spell to stop or take control of normal zombies, but anything golem-based has to be physically destroyed. They're immune to domination, take control or similar magic. And, depending on exactly how they were created, almost impossible to break."

"I can't do magic and I have serious doubts whether I can memorize an incantation well enough in fifteen minutes to pass it on to Jane. Isn't there some way we can just get home? If at all possible, along with the whole clan. Is there an exit, a portal, a trick? Anything?"

"Carcerus is the dungeon dimension. Nothing gets out of there."

Sam scowled at Rodrik for his comment, but couldn't really contradict him. The students were silent for a moment. Leonardo sounded apologetic: "All the sources I've read about Carcerus agree that there's no way out. The usual paths all lead there, but none of them lead back."

"Because the dimension has such a low energy level?"

"You mean the low Warshok constant. But that's not it. The university is normally a bit lower than that and you can get away from here without any problems. Dimensionally, it's actually just around the corner."

"Was it just created in isolation like that? I mean, if Jane's story is true and the dimensions were created by the gods according to their blueprints and specifications?"

"Makes little sense. Who would lock themselves up? Especially a god who originally had practically limitless power? I can't really imagine that."

"That's right. That would really make no sense." Rodrik was astonished because he had not yet had the same thought himself: "Maybe the dimension only holds everything but gods captive?"

Sam's eyes clouded over. Her voice sounded absent, as if she had to summon the information from afar and recite it in a steady tone like something memorized: "The rules of every world apply to everyone. Especially for the Primordials who created them. The power of all gave birth to Mandatus, the keeper of the rules. Standing above all and bound by the bonds he himself created. Only through his work can order prevail. Only through his work can the multiverse, the sum of all universes in all dimensions, exist. He is the focus with which worlds are created. The power bestowed upon him by the will of all Primordials creates laws that cannot be broken. If the Primordial God of Carcerus wants to be able to leave his dimension, it is not a fundamental property of that dimension to prevent inhabitants from leaving. The Lightbringer must bring about this phenomenon with his own power. With his conscious will. Find a place he cannot see, then he cannot stop you."

She fell silent and noticed that everyone was staring at her with open eyes: "What?"

"What was that?" Norman's mind raced. How could he have escaped an all-seeing, all-knowing being?

Rodrik had other priorities: "How do you know all this?"

"I... I'm not sure. For a moment, that was the perfectly logical answer. But now... I can't remember. I've been traveling the world for a very long time. It's probably a memory from my distant past. From the time of creation."

Now it was Leo's turn to be confused: "From the time of creation? How old are you?"

"That hardly matters now. I'm old, but I don't have a better memory than any other mortal... A much worse memory than you. I've forgotten a thousand times more than most people have ever learned. But that doesn't get us anywhere. That scrap of memory was all. That's all I can think of right now."

"Okay. I have an idea. Norman, you said Jane has a cell phone that can transmit through dimensions?"

"Yes, but that doesn't work there."

"Not as a transmitter. But as a receiver, it should work. The old man gave us a detailed list of all the items she was carrying to help us find his daughter. Since we had no contact, we assumed that the cell phone was broken. Now that we know where you are, we can at least send you messages. And I'm going to program an application so that the phone will immediately send a signal if you're in an area that isn't blocked. Look for a place where one or more of the usual laws in Carcerus don't work. Something that shows you that the Lightbringer cannot see there or is not looking there for some reason. Then the cell phone will automatically give me a signal and we'll open a portal from here."

"Can we somehow build a jammer or something to make us invisible to gods?"

"Unlikely. The power of a Primordial in its home dimension can only be disrupted by very rare phenomena. I can't think of anything that could do that. The best place to start your search is where this dragon appeared. Something unusual could have happened there. If a dragon has only appeared in the dimension once, there must be something very special about the place."

"We don't even know where that was. Or where we are in relation to this place. Carcerus is huge, a whole planet full of tunnels."

"A whole universe, actually." Rodrik raised his hands apologetically, "Hey. I didn't mean to be negative, but searching a universe on foot isn't the best plan."

"They can't be far from a suitable place." Leonardo immediately had everyone's attention: "Majere clearly got some kind of message or something from his daughter. He would never say what it was, but he was sure the missing were still alive."

Rodrik nodded: "That's right. Actually, he always said he knew for sure that Norman was alive. He just assumed it from the others."

Norman thought of the voice that had nested a part of himself in his mind: "I think I know what kind of contact that was."

"So?"

"I can't tell you."

It's something telepathic. Not important. You won't think about it any further. Only the fact that there was contact is important.

Norman turned his thoughts inwards, while the three next to him stared ahead with glazed eyes: "Thanks for the help. I'm not very good at lying. But are you sure the information isn't important to our rescue?"

The telepathic signal came through very weakly and incomprehensibly. But it got through. There must be a connection. I still can't reach the part of me that is now inside you, but I feel it more strongly now than I did at the beginning. You are getting closer.

"You're not the part that's inside me?"

I am the whole. The sum of all parts. And now take care of your friends again. I can no longer confuse them without them becoming suspicious.

Norman revived the conversation: "So I just need to find a place where Jane's cell phone has reception, then I'll send you a text message and you'll get us out of there with a portal. Right?"

"That's right. Sounds like a plan." Leo sounded quite smug, as if he had thought the whole thing up completely on his own.

"Now we just have to survive these shadow butterflies and the corpse golems. Great. Do you have any suggestions?"

An awkward silence answered him.

"Wait a minute, there's one more thing you could try. As long as you can't pinpoint us..." The last of the sparkling grains of gallifreynium dust that had formed the summoning circle went out. Without transition, Norman also disappeared from the room.

Leonardo jumped to his feet and rubbed his hands together: "Wonderful, then we have a lot to do. I'll talk to the guys at the Transdimensional Institute right away to make sure the portal room is ready."

"And where are we going to get all the Gallifreynium we're going to need?" Rodrik pulled a worn notebook out of his pocket and looked something up: "We'll need at least 800g for the portal, more if we're to save a whole group of people."

"Then we have a problem."

Samantha looked worriedly at the burnt-out chalk circle on the floor: "Yesterday I was helping out at the bar in the disco. Gunther was there again and he's still drinking far too much whisky and cola. It's just not good for him..."

"Please stay on topic."

"Ok ok! Anyway, he said that after the many 'unnecessary' experiments, the rector has confiscated all the remaining Gallifreynium and will only hand it over for experiments that are essential for the continued existence of the university. Of course, priority is given to anything that could bring in new Gallifreynium. The supply has never been as low as it is now."

Rodrik sounded thoughtful: "Where does this stuff actually come from?"

"I always get mine from the materials counter on the second floor of the main building."

"Very funny."

"No seriously, the material does not occur in nature and its structure violates several laws of nature. And no one will tell you where it really comes from. Only that it has to be procured at a damn high price."

"I know." Samantha looked very self-satisfied and grinned at the two of them: "The guys from the materials issue always tell the most incredible stories about where the stuff comes from. My favorite is the one about the head-sized UFOs that always bring it in the window at midnight. Only yesterday they tried to talk me out of a few free drinks when I was helping with the bar at the disco. And you can't lie to me outside the university."

"So?"

"I could see some images in her mind. A hooded figure stepping out of the portal with a suitcase and handing the rector a heavy container. And next to him stood Odwin, handing the messenger a rolled-up scroll. And immediately afterwards there was a picture of a pyramid, I think it must have been the pyramid of Cheops. Only it was much newer. Still with a smooth marble covering and a golden top. The picture focused on the top, the top end of which was still missing. Then I saw a boat lying low in the water bringing in the pyramid-shaped end piece made of golden-orange material."

"The Great Pyramid is actually supposed to have had a golden top in the past. I'd have to go through some archaeological databases, but as far as I remember, nothing with an orange-gold hue was ever mentioned. And apart from the pyramids themselves, the Egyptians weren't known for working magic or futuristic technology either. Maybe they used gallifreynium somehow in pyramid construction. And Odwin's father or one of the other Norse gods probably stole them. I wouldn't be surprised if they did. If they only halfway correspond to the legends, they all belong in a prison for the gods. Were you able to see where the material for the top of the pyramid originally came from?"

"I think so. There was a brief vision of a city made up of three rings. With somehow ancient Greek-looking buildings."

"Three rings with water in between?"

"Yes, exactly! Do you know that?"

"Sure. Who doesn't know that? That corresponds to Plato's description of the legendary city of Atlantis. So all we have to do is find a supposedly fictitious city which, even if it existed at all, sank into the sea at an unknown location thousands of years ago. And then we have our source for Gallifreynium. It's probably the same stuff that Plato called orichalkos in his notes back then. The more modern name is orichalcum. This fire-shining miracle gold that their magic or technology or something was supposedly based on. Super."

Rodrik took a more relaxed view: "I think we'd better follow up the lead with the dealer. Because that's how I would interpret it. The rector buys the Gallifreynium in another dimension. And Odwin has something to do with it. It's probably his home dimension... Where did he come from again?"

"Asgard." Leo never forgot anything.

Rodrik rubbed his hands together enthusiastically: "Well, then we do have something of a plan! Sam eavesdrops on Odwin and tries to find out where the Gallifreynium is coming from. Leo does this cell phone programming thing and prepares the portal room. And I'll get all the information about Atlantis and Gallifreynium that I can find in the library or anywhere else in the university. And we'll meet back here tomorrow evening. Okay?"

Sam looked at him suspiciously for a while while Leo thought hard. She always knew where she stood with most people, but she couldn't place the little would-be demon summoner. Her otherwise flawless sense of trustworthiness, of lies and truth, always placed him in a vague gray area. The few people who had given her a similar feeling so far in her long life had always turned out to be the most dangerous kind of liars. The kind who could convince themselves of the truth of their stories and who lived in their own little reality. She simply didn't trust Rodrik. But she couldn't find anything to seriously object to in his proposal either. And so far, he had always helped her and Leo without anything in return or any obvious ulterior motives. So why did the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end every time she saw him? Besides, she not only had no better plan at the moment, but no other plan at all: "Agreed."