Returning to the hotel and making my way back up to the room I paused, out of curiosity I went in search of Bess. To my surprise I found her in the arms of the first man I had met at the desk. Both were asleep so I left them to explore his room, shortly finding a hidden cubby in his wall. It held a journal and a decent amount of wealth. Out of curiousity I pulled the journal into the wall with me to look at it. There was several notes regarding various romantic trists between married people, the back was a listing of pay offs. Some from blackmail and some from the thieves guild, the man kept good records if nothing else. I put the journal back and slipped back into my room. I nearly collapsed when I stepped out, exhaustion gripping me. I barely managed to recast my wards and sink into bed before the darkness claimed me.
The next afternoon when I finally stretched out of bed, sleeping in hadn’t been my plan but it fit the identity I was building. My daytime presence would be that of a wealthy traveler, tonight I would see if I took leadership of the guild or became a force behind the woman. Today was shopping, partially because I wanted a few things but mostly to build a name for myself.
My first stop was good though, I found a good looking restaurant just across from the hotel. After a satisfying meal I started wandering the shops, buying a few books and outfits. I mixed the actual clothes I wanted from various shops, not wanting anyone to be able to track me by appearance. The rest of the day was spent strolling though various markets and even working my way to the street market in the lower district.
There I wandered between stalls studying the various things on the tables. Nothing particular caught my attention for most of the afternoon but just before I called it quits for the day I spotted a soft glow from one of the stalls. There was magic there, and probably magic they didn’t know they had. When I studied it the feel was almost alive, it radiated off the small ring. It was no wonder they didn’t think anything about the ring was special, it looked like a plain bronze ring.
I wasn’t sure what it was but I was buying it. The rest of the things on the table held no interest but I spent several minutes looking over the rest of the trash under the vendors steely gaze. I collected three or four things before casually adding the ring to my small pile than approached the man.
“My lord fine selections!” He spoke as soon as I faced him. Then immediately starting to sell them. “My best stuff as you obviously know.”
“They are trinkets that catch my fancy for one reason or another, please let’s not pretend they are truly of value. Simply give me a fair price and let’s move on.” I said evenly, not really prepared to walk away but unwilling to get involved in a long haggling session.
“Fair it be sir, two silver and three bronze would take it all.” The man’s gapped smile looked hopeful, to be fair he hadn’t aimed to high.
“Two silver and be done.” I placed two silver on the table, the sun glinting off them.
“Done my lord.” The man made the coins disappear in the blink of an eye and I added the purchases to my collection for the day.
Not knowing what the ring was I dropped them in the bag, unwilling to risk the storage ring. I would figure out what it was later, it had an odd feeling to it that had me baffled. It was definitely a higher magic of some sort but I couldn’t pin it down for some reason. Every time I had tried it felt like it moved in some way out of my view, which made no sense. This would take some work, work best done in private.
When I made it back to the inn I had them send dinner up to the room with some tea. I waited until it arrived before sealing the room. I relaxed on the front porch eating dinner while studying the ring. I didn’t try and cast but just studied its physical appearance, as far as I could tell it was a plain simple bronze ring. This puzzle was starting to bother me, I can tell it’s not just magic but strong magic of some sort but it’s giving nothing away. Out of pure frustration i started talking to it.
“Just what the hell are you?” I twirled in the light as I spoke and damn near dropped it when I got an answer.
“I am the trapped soul of a long dead mage.” The voice was hallow, it had a tortured edge to it.
“What?! How are you trapped?” Shocked was my first response, then the anger came.
“Trapped?!? Who trapped you?!?”
“Long ago I was driven by the desire for immortality and the gods cursed me into this.” Was there a hint of laughter in the voice? Something tickled at the back of my mind, I slowed my response to consider this sensation.
“So punished by the gods?” Was my slow response.
“Yes for daring immortality they punished me.”
“Ah well then I wouldn’t want to go against the gods, sorry I’ll return you to the market.” The humor in the voice had given away the game, this was no trapped mage, some trickster was trapped in the ring and playing games. What I did know for certain was that they couldn’t effect me or the world in their current position.
“Wait no…I mean please no if you free me…” the voice wasn’t amused anymore they had slight hint of uncertainty now.
“No sorry I have be desire to fight the gods.” This time my voice betrayed me and whatever was in the ring caught it.
“Smart ass, you caught me. Now let me out of this ring.” The voice now had a teasingly female tone, husky and filled with sensuality. “Than I can reward you for your service.”
“Nope not buying that one either.” I was starting to get a sense of the occupant now, definitely a trickster of some sort and most certainly male. “Tell me who and what you are.”
“Fine, damanable mage I am Badb an ancient battle raven trapped in this stupid ring by another of your ilk.” Final the truth and delivered with venom.
“Trapped? How was a battle raven trapped in a ring?” It didn’t make any sense battle ravens were fearsome magical beasts, the designation ancient meant it was a diamond tier monster. There was no way it could be trapped in the something as simple as a ring no matter how strong an artifact.
“Trapped as a chick by the vile treachery of your kind. Used as threat against his enemies but never released because he hadn’t truly bound me. He knew I would kill him the start I was released, knew I would because he was smart enough to put a truth binding on the ring.” The voice was now piercing, threatening my mind with every word but the restrictions of the ring me protect as its owner.
“Master Badb I have no desire to keep you trapped in this trinket, but I am in a city.” The anger in that voice was unforgiving, it would kill anyone of anything that was around if released right now. “I also have no desire to be the target of your anger.”
“What if I offered a pact mage?” His voice had calmed now, realizing the sincerity in my voice. This was a truly ancient bird to be able to sense that while trapped in a ring.
“A pact?” It was tempting, once hundreds of years ago before shards and mages sorcerers made pacts with magical creatures to grow their power. I remembered this from the lessons, ancient history centuries ago. Was this how the raven became trapped? “How long have you been in this ring old one?”
“Time is meaningless in this bauble mage, but long enough to know all those who knew the arts are dead.”
“And the pact you offer?” I couldn’t help but be tempted. My mission would need more than shard magics, I would need to powers to stop mages. If what he offered as what I thought I would have the power to rip out others shards and use them for my own, add them to my own. It was a power that made the greatest hero’s and villains in history. Centuries ago they mages, then all with full shards, had joined forces and hunted down the few sorcerers and killed them all. Destroying all knowledge of them and their bound companions.
“You know the pact I offer, the bound of sorcerer and companion.” The voice was calm now, the longer I held the ring the more it knew of the world now. Sadly it also meant that I could feel his hatred of mages. This creature was meant to bind with a sorcerer, that’s how it became trapped.
“And my mission?” This was a problem, if Badb hated mages as strongly as I felt and my mission was to release the dragons so shards could return to the world…there would be conflict.
“Will you hide the power of the sorcerers from the world?” This question caught me off guard, I hadn’t considered that idea. There was risk, but I could sense Badb had an idea.
“If we allow their return how do we insure the vileness some of them brought into the world does t return?” It was the heart of the matter.
“Smarter than I thought!” The bird crowed in my mind. “Give control to the bonded.”
“Explain.” I could feel that he didn’t mean giving control over the person to the beast, but I didn’t really understand what he meant.
“In the binding give the beast a choice. Do you know how it was done in the past?”
“No, I just know the general concepts.”
“The beasts were picked, to prevent …not prevent but limit rather the evil of sorcerers let the beast choose their partner.” In his explanation I could fell through the ring the greater explanation.
If the beast was giving the choice it could be done in a ritual that allowed the beast to see the heart of their bonded. They could choose to ignore someone without a good heart, that also meant that some beasts could choose the opposite. The catch for that was simple, we would control the knowledge and could create ritual requirements that would limit aspirant and beast. It would prevent some truly ancient monsters who might still survive from bonding but no sane person would bond with them, it would spell their doom.
If I wasn’t as well trained and aware of the mana, as well as having a tempered body bonding with Badb would destroy me. Likely him as well, the magics of an ancient beast couldn’t be easily shared. If with everything I had going for me bonding with him might kill me and him both. Even trapped in the ring I could feel the power of the great raven, it was more overbearing than anything I had felt this far.
“That would work,” I admitted after considering it for a few minutes. “It would still require the existence of a school for both beast and aspirant, it would help control it further.”
“Agreed.”
“I will agree to it but first we must free the dragons and return the balance to the world.” I could see the potential but it had to be after my current mission. “There is no real way I can promise we will make it through everything to do it, we’ll be hunted as soon as this all starts.”
“I am aware and willing to accept that.”
“And the return of mages will happen first.”
“I can see that, but I now know the mages I so hated are a fading thing. Your goal of returning the dragons will mean they’re final fall in a much more suitable way.” I could feel the wicked humor in his voice. He understood like I did that if we managed my goal the mages power would be destroyed.
The thing I had learned about returning the dragons was that when they existed freely in the world everyone had magic. That was why they had been hunted or trapped, for control of the magic in the world. Returning the dragons to the world would bring that age back. It wouldn’t break all power because collecting five shards would still be rare, but keeping an oppressive boot on the neck of a population that had magic simply wasn’t possible. Sure there would still be nobles and kings but their power would have to be earned instead of ceased. That difference was immeasurable on a world wide scale.
If we then started a school for sorcerers it could further be used to balance the power. A control factor if managed correctly. There were so many challenges to accomplishing everything, he’ll just freeing the dragons was daunting. Once those in power became aware of it they would join forces to hunt me and the dragons down. Being a sorcerer could tip that eventual battle in my favor, never mind the added fire power of an ancient raven. Creatures so powerful even the mighty dragons respected them. In a physical battle the dragon would destroy the raven of course, but mentally and magically they both stood at the apex.
“Then I would accept the pact, so long as it’s a balanced partnership.” I felt the raven stumble at this, he hadn’t expected that response.
“Balanced? You would enter into an equal pact with me?” The feeling of disbelief was strong in his voice. “Knowing what you know?”
“It is the only pact I will accept.” A balanced pact meant that there was no assurance that the beast would fight by my side, he would have a choice.
“Why?” The curiosity of the ravens leaked into that one word so strongly that it made my mind stutter.
“It will be the way we teach the further someday. No one dominate, the pact must be made by both sides.” I grinned at the feeling of shock from Badb.
“Agreed then, you’re an interesting one Syn. A trickster in the guise of man.”
“Let me take us somewhere safe for the pact, someone sensing of disturbing us wouldn’t be a good thing.” I focused on the location of one of the homes and felt the magic that would pull me there. With a quick twist reality flickered around me, there was a bright flash and I stood in a new place.
Looking around the place I found an exact duplicate of the previous one, minus the mysterious books and notes. The door to the training area was in the same place and I went there before exploring anything else. The wards and formations built into the room should be enough to contain the process of our binding. I walked into the center of the room and sat down in a lotus position with the ring in my hand. After I activated the wards and brought the formations alive.
“Are you ready Badb?” I asked once I felt him settle down from the teleportation.
“What is this? Who is it who created all of this?”
“No clue, I only know his initials and that I met some unknown requirements.”
“What?!?” Badb was shocked at this even though I think he sensed it before.
“You didn’t know this?” I grinned mentally at the raven.
“I felt it but guessed you were hiding the details, no I didn’t think you had a mysterious mission assigned by an unknown mage.”
“You know it does sound a bit more ridiculous when you say it like that.”
“You think?” His voice carried laughter as he fully realized the truth of it all. “This will be fun no matter how it ends!”
“Take my blood as yours and I will take your blood as mine.” Without any further debate i pricked my finger with a dagger and bleed on the the ring. There was a burning moment of shard pain as Badb blood was pushed through the ring into me than the space infront of me was filled with a raven so large it barely fit in the chamber.
Badb stood almost thirty feet tall, his shimmering black feathers glinted in the mage lights around the room. Their sheen matched the black mithril of my swords, I could faintly see the patterns dance across them. His black coloration was so rich it almost looked my the void, light seemed to absorb into it, but his eyes sparkled with an intellect so deep it almost absorbed me.
“Prepare yourself mage, this will not be comfortable.” His voice now a rich baraton rumbled in my head. Then the pain started, foreign concepts filled my mind, overwhelming my sense. The magic of the beasts was unlike ours and its power was born from the land the lived it. The force of his ancient magic effected me physically and mentally, my body was slowly ripped apart piece by piece. My sense of self clung together by only my will, I was dissected then rebuilt into a stronger version of myself.
My bones cracked and splintered before reforming again and again stronger each time. The marrow originally black and dense was replaced with silvery glowing metal. Muscles were shredded than knitted back together tighter, the power and speed I had thought of as unrivaled seemed nothing more than a bumbling child’s first steps. My brain was reshaped into a magically glowing sphere, then encased in bones that would turn the toughest blow. My organs were destroyed and regrown again and again reaching a level of perfection challenging the toughest beasts.
My eyes were replaced as well as my ears, the iris now deepest pools of black tinted with subtle purples revealed so much more of the world now. I could see the smallest partial of dust as it floated in the string of man woven into the room. My ears heard the fluttering of wings a mile away, all of my sense reached levels that would have melted my mind if it hadn’t been remade.
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Finally the skin stretched over my new frame, a shade darker than it had been. It was a deep bronze now but had the strength of armor, yet it could feel the softest touch. My hair regrew, reaching down to my lower back in a black that matched the raven in front of me. Three feathers permanently woven into it, a physical symbol of our bond. When I recovered my awareness finally the world felt different, more alive and I was connected to it in a way unheard of. There was a soft thrum in my soul that resonated with it now and I understood. I was as much beast as man now, for the second time in my life I was more than I had been before.
I could feel Badb as a part of me now, feel is power and hear his thoughts. He was truly ancient, older than a beast had a right to be, though stuck in a ring for most of that time he still held the strength of age. Wise in some ways but unsure of the world he appeared in. I could feel him absorbing the knowledge I had, learning about all that had changed while he was stuck in the ring. His sense of lose was palpable as he recognized the changes.
“So much is gone, lost in the madness of men struggling for temporary power.” His voice was sad, almost forlorn echoed in my mind. “So much has been lost to the beasts as well, they don’t even know their power without the dragons. We must return them.”
“Now you understand.” Was all I thought back to him.
“Truly it has all fallen so far, trapped in that damnable ring for centuries I didn’t know.” Badb’s sadness was palpable.
“You couldn’t have changed anything my friend, I can feel your thoughts. You wouldn’t have survived if you hadn’t been lost to time.”
“What now friend Syn?”
“We have to think about how to explain your size.” It was my first concern, he was massive.
“I want to work on the ring before we go too, it’s still bound to us in some way I think as a home or resting place for you.”
“It is, but I refuse to use it. I can adjust my size easily enough.” So saying he immediately shrank down to a normal sized raven, unfortunately it did nothing for the feeling of power that came off him in waves.
“I’ll make the ring a better place for you, and I need to make something to mask your presence. Right now you would raise the alarm even in the capitol.” I laughed.
“I still won’t use the ring.” He was a dead set against returning to the ring.
“Let’s do the masking spell work first, an amulet maybe?”
“Something simple that can be worn easily, yes that would be ideal.” There was a preening sense that it also needed to be shiny, somethings even time couldn’t over come in beasts.
“Like this?” I asked pulling a simple purple diamond the size of a thumbnail suspended from a chain by the talons of a great bird. The chain was a simple rope of orichalcum. It was one of the treasures I had found in a vault that caught my attention. Badb’s eyes sparkled as stared at the gem.
“Perfect.” Was all he managed to respond.
The masking enchantment wasn’t difficult but raising its level to one that could hide the powerful presence of the raven? That took some work, the tedious part was engraving a strobe formation on the diamond. Time again lost its meaning as my mind focused into the delicate work. At some point Badb left to find food, kindly bringing some back to me. It took two days to finish the work, but it was done.
Before I could start the infusion Badb took the gem in his beak. His magic swelled to a crescendo, crashing across the gem almost immediately bringing it to life. It would have taken me a few hours at least but this ancient beast had done it in moments. The amount of magic I could command was impressive for a person, Badb was on a different level.
With a quick flip of his beak the amulet flipped twice in the air to land perfectly around his neck. Immediately the massive presence disappeared like it had never been there. With a quick ruffle of feathers the amulet vanished into the deep black feathers unseen to anyone, its spell even hiding its presence.
“Nicely done chick.” Badb laughed before shrinking again and landing on my shoulder. My mind turned to the ring now, only to find it sitting on the workstation already done. The feel of it no longer that of a simple stable or nest. Now it felt like open air, wind and expansive space. “I admit the idea of returning to the ring is discomforting, this I think will do.”
“When did you do that?” I was shocked by the ring.
“The first day you started the formation. If I must at some point return to that ring it will not be to a stable.” It was then I noticed somethings missing from the space around me.
“How much of the wealth did you take from here?” I chuckled.
“Just enough, unless there is something you need from it?” He had a slightly guilty tone.
“It’s fine, if we ever really need it you can return it correct?”
“Return it?!” The feeling coming off the raven was dangerous, like retuning things he had acquired was a personal attack.
“Only if we need to.” I laughed shaking my head at his antics. My mind already focusing on the mark I had left back at the hotel. “Let’s go back to the city, I hadn’t planned on delaying my plans this long.”