Archmagus Stein hurried through the hallways of the king’s palace. The wizard council’s hundred-something meeting started in a few minutes, and he’d overslept. His tardiness would be terrible for his potential appointment as prime magus in the future.
Finger-combing his hair in as best as he could without a mirror, he rounded a corner and nearly crashed into a household slave. Without stopping, Stein maneuvered around her and broke into a jog again.
As he reached the wizard’s hallway, he slowed to a walk, cursing his abysmal physique. His watch read 6:58, and a few stragglers were still entering the atrium. He breathed a sigh of exhaustion and relief, then followed them inside.
A domed ceiling encapsulated the huge room. Ornate windows and gems lined the walls and floors. A massive table sat at the front of the room, surrounded by chairs. Stein took his seat in-between two other archmagi. Regular wizards and magi sat on benches surrounding them, talking to each other.
At exactly 7:00, the man at the head of the table stood. A bald head, middle-aged face, and blue robes adorned him. “Silence,” he said. His words, despite being spoken quietly, seemed to spread throughout the room almost supernaturally. Immediately, the clamor fizzled out.
“Thank you,” he continued. “The one hundred and fifty-fifth meeting of the wizard council has begun. We are gathered here, as I am sure many of you already know, to discuss the matter of former archmagus Krell. He has escalated his acts of terrorism and garnered a significant number of followers. The king has deemed him a national threat. Thus, the wizard council has been ordered to come up with measures to remove him. I will now open up discussion to the archmagi.”
As soon as he sat down, a young man to his right stood up. “Thank you, prime magus. To protect our citizens as much as possible, I believe that it’d be helpful to lead Krell into a trap. He has made demands for drastic reformations, so we must humor him, at least partially.”
Next, an old man rose. “True, archmagus Tyron, but we must be sure that we can take him by surprise. Some of us remember Krell when he was an archmagus, and we know that he is cautious to a fault. We would have to organize a situation in which he truly believes an agreement will be formed.”
The discussion continued for hours, with frequent breaks in-between. Stein pitched in several times, offering advice on the best method to detain Krell. At last, they came to a decision. It would take weeks to set up, but it was the easiest and safest option available.
…
The prime magus met Krell according to their agreement, in a completely isolated cave in the inhospitable Field of Nix. Obviously, previous presence there was prohibited, to ensure that there were no traps.
Stein was one of two archmagi with the prime magus. He was a new archmagus, and pretty young at that, so he’d never met the famed Krell. Suffice to say, he was a little disappointed.
Krell wasn’t short, but he definitely wasn’t tall. Not even average height. His black hair framed his young, handsome face and lackluster body. The two people beside him were more of what Stein had expected. Huge, stone-cold behemoths that looked like they could tear mountains in half.
“Karl.” Krell said. Stein realized that it was the prime magus’s name.
“Krell, it is good to see you again,” the prime magus responded flatly. “How is Melissa?”
Krell’s face twitched. “Let’s get to business. You wanted to discuss details? Has the king finally accepted the inevitable?”
The prime magus looked down for a moment. “No, he has not.”
Krell tilted his head. “Then what am I doing h--”
Before he could finish his sentence, two more archmagi appeared in the room. One held a massive rune in his hands. Immediately, the cave erupted into chaos.
Krell’s guards could do nothing in the face of the prime magus’s invisible magic, and slumped to the floor in seconds. The archmagus holding a mobile sealing rune moved toward Krell, who remained motionless.
The rune was the first of its kind, developed by the prime magus and a few archmagi specializing in runic magic. It carried a seal that would otherwise have to be carved into stone and demand a huge number of catalysts.
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“Karl, you did this?” Shock and hurt were evident in Krell’s voice.
The archmagus pushed the rune against the nape of his neck, and Krell’s body went limp. His magic fought back, but the seal was optimized to suppress individual mana sources.
“I don’t expect you to understand,” the prime magus replied, in perhaps the greatest show of regret and emotion Stein had ever seen. “Goodbye, Damien.”
…
After that, there was darkness. My body no longer existed, but neither did any humanly chains. I felt no anger, no sadness, not even regret. It felt odd to experience such a thing, and I searched my mind for answers. But I couldn’t stay focused for long. Much of my existence was spent reliving memories of my life. Reflecting on past actions.
I had no perception of time, but that didn’t bother me. Was I at peace? Could I be at peace? Nevertheless, it passed.
One day, there was something. A pinprick of light in the middle of my vision. There was no mistaking it in the complete darkness. I felt curiosity, which grew with the speck of light.
I reached out, tried to take a closer look. But I couldn’t. I felt sadness, then regret. The light slowly expanded until it filled almost half of my vision. Then it burst out and shoved the darkness away. A horrifying, otherworldly pain enveloped me, and I shrunk away in confusion.
The light disappeared abruptly, and darkness returned. But this darkness was different, not as oppressive as before. And this time, I felt something.
I opened my eyes and was met with almost painfully bright light. Sensations that I’d long forgotten returned to me--pain, hearing, touch. I was lying on something stiff and hard, and remained motionless long enough for my eyes and body to become acclimated.
When I could finally see, I looked around. I was in a spacious room built by wood. A man was sitting on a bed situated near a wall. He stared at me, his eyes wide in fear. I used a bit of magic to ease myself to my feet.
“A--are you a demon?” the man stammered, hiding his body with a thick blanket.
I felt confused at his words. A demon? I looked nothing like one. “I am not,” I responded evenly, “but I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
The man inched the blanket off his face. “So you aren’t gonna kill me and Laurel?”
“Not if you don’t give me a reason to.” It’d be better if he was a little fearful.
He nodded stiffly. “What do you want to know?”
“What year is it?” An odd question, but the man thought I was a demon. He’d probably understand.
“Year t--twelve forty-one.”
I struggled to keep the surprise off my face. It was year 457 when I was sealed, so that’d mean almost 800 years had passed. Unless… “What country is this?” I asked.
“Proxia,” the man squeaked out. He fidgeted with his blanket.
I froze. I’d never heard of that country before. Even stranger, he seemed to speak the same language that I did. “Do you have a map?”
He shook his head, and fear sprang to his face again. “The m--maps are in the cartographer’s shop, I can’t afford one.”
“Well, if you tell me how to get there, I’ll be on my way.” The man was very eager to help. Apparently, I was in a small town on a hill surrounded by a large forest. He even gave me directions to the nearest cities. A few more threats even ensured that he wouldn’t send any guards after me.
The man’s house practically touched the tiny gravel road. The road was empty, although I could hear some commotion further down. It was dark out, and a cold breeze blew through my leather clothes.
I slid to the ground, my back against the wall. Karl had lied to me. Melissa was gone. My uprising had probably failed. I didn’t even know where I was.
But if the seal had broken, it meant that anyone involved in its construction was either dead or mana-crippled. Maybe something had gone right.
After taking a few minutes, I reluctantly got up and headed in the direction of the cartographer’s shop. Torches lined the sides of the street, which was strange. They were horribly inefficient compared to light enchantments. Maybe magic was undeveloped in this country?
The shop was closed, which I should’ve expected. This was a tiny town by the looks of it, so it was probably run by one person. After looking around to make sure I was alone, I coaxed the door open with a bit of force magic.
The lock clicked quickly, and I was once again surprised. There wasn’t even a magic enhancement on it. I sent a wave of force to make sure there were no traps or people inside before I was satisfied.
Inside was completely dark, and I conjured up a bit of light to see better. After that, it wasn’t very hard to find some maps. What I saw confused me even more.
I didn’t recognize a single country. Even major landmasses looked different. But, somehow, I could read the writing perfectly. Although, when I looked closer at it, something was off. Wrong.
I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t scrutinized the writing, but the characters were completely different than any language I knew. And when I knew that, I realized that the man I encountered spoke the same way.
The implications of something like this were crazy. Deception magic of huge power had to be used for someone with my trained mind. It was somehow infused with packets of magic containing knowledge of an entire language. Not only that, but I somehow didn’t notice even when speaking the language. It was revolutionary.