Paxton took a sip of tea and continued, “However, over time two things happened the Order of Acolytes were not prepared for. First, about a one thousand years ago the magic started to go stale and lose potency. At times it did not work as it was intended or was underpowered. Researchers suspected that something in the way Wizards used magic kept it healthy and fresh for lack of a better word."
Paxton said, "An Acolyte named Andreas the Explorer discovered, through system magic, other magical worlds existed and how to create portal magic. When the Order of Acolytes finally sanctioned exploring other worlds they learned many important things. Chief among them was other worlds mana it seemed to bring new energy and life to system magic. Over time the Order of Acolytes decided the system had to grow. It had to diversify the mana and regulate other magical environments.
Paxton said with a sense of wonder, "Using the immense collective power of the Order of Acolytes the system was brought to other worlds. At first it was slow going. Mostly because each world it incorporated into itself had varying amounts of natural mana. It took time to find an equilibrium and stability. With each new planet brought in, the process was streamlined. It also took time as the inhabitants of the new world were brought into the system against their will. Because of the system, mages from this world tended to be far more powerful than magic users in other worlds.”
Paxton continued, “At first the Order of Acolytes used great care when selecting a world to be brought in line with system magic. They found a few planets like their own. They would hunt down and kill natural magic users and empower the mundane citizens. In the end, most planets were powerless to resist. A vast majority did not use magic and were largely unaware of magic before the system. These planets were the easiest to assimilate. They had varying levels of natural magic but for whatever reason the beings that lived there did not naturally wield it.”
Zack interrupted, “This is a great story and all, I am just not sure how it relates to you and I being in this old dusty room.”
Paxton put his hands up placatingly and said, “I am almost there. You needed background for what I am about to tell you to make sense. After solving for the problem of magic becoming stale a second problem began to manifest in the Acolytes of Order. As centuries passed the lessons of the first acolytes were lost, the horrifying stories of all powerful wizards abusing their power and ruling the people with malevolent abandon were forgotten. Those who became the most powerful started to develop privilege and began to abuse their power.
Paxton continued, "In the past five hundred years we have developed a peasant class once again. The powerful become more powerful at the expense of the weak. There are patron Mages who act like the wizards of old. We have not used a patronage system in thousands of years. Now it is commonplace once again. The Order of the Acolytes were not able to manage this problem because most of them were themselves guilty. Soon maintaining the power of the system became more important than the well-being of people.”
Paxton was clearly frustrated as he continued, “For the first time the System began to take over worlds that were not fit for its rule. There were corrupting elements of some worlds they should have left alone. Evils long left dormant came to life and inflicted it will on the system.” The Wizard took a deep breath, “I have been in and out of consciousness for all these thousands of years. Watching and learning without interfering. I recently awoke to discover this problem. I am invested in the systems success. You see, I helped the first order of Acolytes establish the system."
Paxton voice raised in tempo as he continued, "I am a wizard, one of the greatest, but I was not interested in power. I was interested in knowledge. I didn’t want to rule everything, I wanted to know everything. Because I was essential to the first hundred acolytes they granted me an immunity of sorts from the wizard purge. If I agreed to stay out of the affairs of the system and the mundane people, I could live and learn as much as I wanted. The history of wizards made it clear. Even when the best wizards with the best of intents took on the role of ruler, they fell to their basest instincts in the end. They all fell. Fighting in wars and determining winners and losers was not my path to power. So, I have been alternating between being awake and learning or suspended in a magical hibernation of sorts for the past 5,000 years. I have been watching, studying, and learning as a master historian of sorts. I have access to everyone, everywhere on the planet.”
Zack sat back in astonishment at this revelation. He could tell that Pax was using a bit of dramatization to hide what seemed like a note of guilt in his voice. He asked, “Did you betray your fellow wizards?” Then caught himself and said, “I mean do you feel like you betrayed your fellow wizards?”
Paxton replied instantly, “oh not at all, they were a bad bunch. If you sensed a note of melancholy in my voice it is because I did not truly understand the enormity of time I have been here for the past five thousand years, virtually jumping forward in time. I think it is getting to me a bit, I may regret agreeing to stay sequestered in this castle void.”
Despite the note of sadness in Paxton’s voice, Zack did not understand how this had anything to do with him. He said, “I see now how you are here, but that doesn’t tell me why I am here.”
Paxton sat up and fixed him in his gaze, “What I am about to say next is an educated guess based on my research. While the system has incorporated many different worlds and civilizations into its fold. Worlds that have significant amounts of natural magic and magic users and others with moderate amounts of magic and no magic users. What system had not tried to incorporate until now is a world with no magic. A world with no magic, but oddly enough people in the world capable of using magic. I think you are here because the system tried to incorporate your world, a world without magic but with people who could wield magic. Clearly it did not work as planned. You said earlier weird events took place prior to you being here. What caught my ear was time slips. What did you mean by that?”
Zack replied, “My first experience with what I am calling a time slip happened when I was done fishing. I went to the cabin, cleaned the fish made dinner, and was eating. I was lost deep in the painful memory of my fiancé cheating on me when I was suddenly back in my boat coming in from fishing. I was heading up to the cabin to clean fish and make dinner. I looked down at my hands. My fingers still had grease and crumbs from the dinner I just ate.”
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Paxton said, “interesting, how far was the gap from where you were to where you were reset to?”
Zack said, “It happened twice, one time it was about an hour and another time it was about 10 minutes. The other weird thing beside the terrifying monsters was a plane crash near the cabin.”
Paxton looked at him in confusion, “A plane crash, what is a plane?”
Zack thought for a moment and realized Paxton would have no idea what a plane was. He gave Paxton the short version of flying and technology back home. “The crash itself was not the interesting part. The part that did not make sense was that only the back two thirds of the plane crashed as if the front half didn’t exist. In addition, he had a message from home that said they found the plane crash in a different location and the whole plane was accounted for.”
Paxton nodded deep in thought. “This tracks with problems the system had integrating other worlds that were not 100 percent compatible. There were instances in other worlds before an equilibrium was established the system would create duplicate realities. These duplicate realities only existed for a few moments and then reconverge. It sounds like the system created some duplicate realities, but they did not reconverge. Or at least have not yet reconverged. My guess is the space you are in at the lake with the cabin will in some way be integrated into this world in the next 20 days.”
Zack asked, “When the system integrates a new world how does it communicate the integration with the people of that world? He continued, “Before I was completely cut off, there were stories of people having weird text boxes pop into their vision for just a moment. The boxes had writing in a language no one understood, and they disappeared very quickly.”
Pax stood up and exclaimed, “That proves my hypothesis, the text boxes you refer to are the first type of communication newly integrated people see. It provides information as to what is going on and how to be successful in their new world. In addition, it would provide the newly initiated with access to their status screen.”
Zack stood up as if what Pax had previously said just hit him, “What do you mean the cabin will be integrated with this world in the next twenty days? That is crazy, I need to go home. I have a life. I just got an advanced degree with pending job interviews. I have family back home. I need to break up with my horrible harpy of a fiancé and kick Dr. Wilson’s ass. I can’t be stuck in some magic fantasy land. The threat of being stuck in some strange land, as crazy as it sounded suddenly focused Zack.
Zack grabbed his things as he exclaimed, “I have to go, I appreciate your time and hospitality, but I cannot I waste time here talking about fairy tales. I need to be there when the next plane comes.
Pax tried to protest as he said, “You have not heard the real reason why I think you are here, please stay so I can explain.”
Zack had already checked out of the conversation as he made his way to where he entered the room. He stared at a wall, no doors in site. Zack started pounding on the door as he desperately looked for a way out. Suddenly the walls became very soft, and Zack opened his eyes. He looked straight into the couch cushion he was sleeping on.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the dim light in the closet. He got up with a start and remembered that he went to sleep in the closet last night after barricading the cabin shut. He listened for noises in the cabin but could hear nothing but the birds chirping outside. He took a big breath and exhaled slowly to calm his nerves. Slowly he opened the door and peeked into the cabin. It was easier to see as sunlight poured through the upper parts of the window. He thought it must be morning. What a weird fucking dream that was. Wizards and system magic. It was so vivid, the mountain, the waterfall, the door knocker, and the old man. The smell of the room was so real.
Zack had to shake his head and focus on the task at hand. He paused and thought, what is the task at hand? Oh right, to get home.
He checked the Sat phone, no message and no signal. He removed the barricade to the cabin side door. He went outside to confirm the mountain or valley village did not exist. Zack breathed a sigh of relief as he was met with the sights, sounds, and smells of a lake. Nothing looked out of the ordinary other than two thirds a plane crash down the shore and an empty dock. Wait, where is the boat? It is just missing. Zack clearly remembered putting the boat on the lift last night. The lift is empty now.
As he walked down to the dock he saw where the boat had gone. It was in front of the lift on the bottom of the lake. The lift looked bent and mangled. The boat did not fare much better. Something had torn the boat off the lift and dragged it into the lake. The boat was a 20-foot Smokercraft and weighed a few thousand pounds. What is in this lake that could tear a boat off the lift and sink it in the lake. Suddenly Zack felt as if he was standing entirely too close to the lake. He sprinted back up the bank to the cabin porch.
Just the thought of what might be in the lake gave him the chills. He looked around and really took in a beautiful late summer morning. Zacks breathing steadied and he felt his tense muscles relax. Zack leaned back in the chair on the porch tried to regain a sense of sanity.
He said to himself, it was just a dream. A crazy hyper realistic dream, but a dream none the less. Obvious magic was not real. The damn mountain wasn’t real, the wizard a figment of his out-of-control imagination or subconscious.
He conveniently ignored the boat being tore off the lift and the giant monster he killed the night before. In some ways his memories seemed distant like a dream you are not sure you are remembering correctly. He felt like he needed to get grounded back in reality. Zack really just wanted to go home. Suddenly breaking up with his fiancé and finding a job did not seem that bad.
Zack resolved to keep focused on the goal, getting home. He went back into the cabin and looked through the closet for a map that might highlight where he is in Canada. If the plane did not show he needed to find another way home. He found a map and laid it out on the table. Soon he found trophy lake. He realized, I am way way way up north in Canada.
He found a small line about 15 miles west of his cabin that looked like it might be a road. On the line there was a small town called Hone. He could hike it there in less than a day. He would have to find a safe place to stay at night. Maybe he could find a car or someone who could help him get transportation back home. South of Hone about twenty miles was another small town. Zack took comfort in the idea there were some semblances of civilization nearby.
Before he is ready to pull the trigger on a long hike, Zack thought he better be sure no one else was coming. He was confident his mom would have kept sending messages and trying to call. Because there was not a message on the sat phone, he did has not had signal for at least a day. Zack looked at the sat phone again but still no signal. He was not sure what to do. He wanted to take action and find his way out of this mess. But he did not have a good plan of what action he could take.
He was afraid to leave and miss the plane. At the same time according to the last messages on the sat phone he did miss the last plane. How could something like that happen. He had been here the whole time. He thought about Pax’s words explaining the time slip. He dismissed the thought. He was not going to solve the problem by listening to a fictional character in a dream. He knew he had enough food to last awhile. Zack decided to set a deadline. He would wait two more days. If no one came in two days, he would set out for the little village of Hone in search of help. He did not like it but did not see any other rational choice.